The Lost Swan
by wickedblack
Summary: We're not always who we think we are. After another nasty beating from his uncle, Harry is about to find out that he is far from being the one he thought he was. I'm also posting this on AO3. :)
1. Chapter 1 - Found

***CM*RL**

Draco Malfoy stepped through the Floo, coming home from Hogwarts for the winter break. The seventeen-year-old was surprised to see both his mother and father standing in front of the fireplace, about to Floo away. What surprised him the most was the look on their faces: his father was pale, paler than usual, his eyes full of disbelief and hope, his mother on the other hand had tears streaming down her face, her eyes shining with hope and the ever-lasting sadness that had been there for years.

"What is going on?" Draco asked, frantic at seeing his mother crying.

She never cried, not in front of Draco anyway. He had caught her crying once or twice throughout the years. Every time he had come across her crying, she was holding a little deep green blanket in a deadly grip but he had known the reason of her cries back then: his baby brother's disappearance. He slightly shook his head, refusing to think about him right now.

"We are going to St Mungos. You stay here, Severus will arrive shortly."

His father answered sternly. They were gone before Draco could answer. It took him two hours and one hundred and five minutes of his Gadfather scolding and telling him to calm down before he Flooed to St Mungos, Severus short on his tail.

*****CM*RL*****

Lucius and Narcissa hurried, for once not caring about being elegant and graceful, to the reception. The nurse caught sight of them almost immediately. "Lord Malfoy, Lady Malfoy, follow me please."

Both Malfoys obliged and they ended up standing in front of a closed door. "He is still unconscious so I'll have to ask you to remain quiet. A healer will join you in a few minutes to sum up the boy's injuries." They nodded and the nurse opened the door for them and promptly left.

Narcissa detached herself from Lucius's side and hurried to the boy's side. She froze midway when her eyes fell on his small and broken form. She could only see the injuries orning his face, neck and arms for he was wearing an hospital gown and was covered by the bed white covers. There were deep cuts and scars on his arms, which Narcissa presumed had been caused by a sharp knife and probably a whip, along with burn marks. She shuddered when she thought that he probably had similar marks all over his body. He had a black eye, a deep cut on his left cheek and his lips were split and swollen. Narcissa was pulled out of her staring when the healer came in.

"That's not my son." Narcissa said, leaning against Lucius's side once again.

"We ran a test, Lady Malfoy. You and your husband should take a look at this." The healer handed them a piece of parchment.

They stared in disbelief at the paper as they read:

**__**Full name**__****__**: Cygnus Etamin Malfoy**__**

**__**Father**__****__**: Lucius Abraxas Malfoy**__**

**__**Mother**__****__**: Narcissa Druella Malfoy (Née Black)**__**

**__**Birth Date**__****__**: December 19th 1982**__**

**__**Status**__****__**: Submissive Elf**__**

Narcissa looked up at the boy she had thought was someone else. According to his looks, the boy could only be a Potter for he was the spitting image of one James Potter. She had never met the boy before for he had never been to Hogwarts but she had known the boy existed. Lily and James Potter had always said that their second-born, Harry, was born a squib and so they had sent him to live with Lily's muggle sister right before they went into hiding with their first-born, Daniel. The boy had been mere days old when they had given him up. They had went into hiding four days after the Dark Lord had won the war, four days after Narcissa and Lucius's little Cygnus had gone missing. But the Potters had never had a second-born, they had stolen her and Lucius's little swan. What she did not understand though was why her son didn't like her son.

"Please, tell me they didn't blood adopt him." She pleaded.

"No, they did not. There is an extremely powerful glamour on him. I came in to remove actually. If you would, please, step back. I'll tell you about your son's injuries right after."

The Malfoys stepped back. Lucius was lost in thought as he held his silently crying wife. He couldn't help but think about the day his little swan was born.

_"___Push, my Lady." A healer exclaimed from her place between Narcissa's legs.__

__She obliged as Lucius gently caressed her forehead. "You are doing so well, Darling." He told her.__

_"___I see a head." The healer said as Narcissa kept pushing.__

_"___Did you hear that? He is almost there, Love." Lucius had a giddy smile on his face.__

__He was so happy he couldn't stop smiling. He had always wanted a big family and his beautiful and flawless wife was already gifting with a second son. His thoughts wandered to his two-year-old son who was excitedly waiting to meet his baby brother outside of the room. The little boy had been overly happy to hear that he would be a big brother but he had needed countless reassurances about his mother's well-being. Lucius was so lost in his musings of happiness that he only came back to himself when the healer handed his now-clean-and-not-so-crying-anymore little boy over to Narcissa.__

_"___Hello there my little Cygnus." Narcissa told the baby tiredly.__

_"___I love you so much." Lucius whispered as he kissed his wife's head.__

_"___He's so beautiful." Narcissa mumbled as they both stared at the little blond-headed bundle, wrapped into a deep green blanket in Narcissa's arms.__

__Lucius felt his heart warm up when his son opened baby blue eyes to stare intently and sleepily at he and Narcissa. They were pulled out of their awed staring when the door opened and a very excited two-year-old Draco ran into the room, followed closely by a smiling Severus.__

_"___I want to see my baby brother! I want to see him!" Draco demanded as he tugged on Lucius's robes, silently asking to be picked up.__

__Lucius obliged and picked his bouncing son up.__

_"___Calm down, Draco. Your brother is really fragile now and he doesn't need his overly excited big brother to scare him." Lucius scolded playfully.__

_"___He's so small." Draco whispered in awe, completely ignoring his father's scolding. "I want to hold him." Draco made grabby hands for his brother and nearly fell from his father's arms onto the bed.__

__Narcissa smiled fondly at Draco and told Lucius to put Draco down on the bed. "You are going to have to stay very still, understood?" Narcissa warned Draco.__

__Draco nodded eagerly and a happy giggle left his mouth when Lucius sat him down close to his mother. Narcissa placed little Cygnus in the crook of Draco's arms and watched as the two year old reamined exceedingly still, afraid to hurt his baby brother, and as he stared at him his eyes shining with happiness and love. Draco started to ramble at his brother, telling him about everything that came to mind. "I'm so happy that you're here. I watched you grow, you know, in Mummy's belly and I was so happy! You'll see, I'll be the best big brother ever. We'll play with my toys and I'll give you Sly. He's my dragon. He'll protect you from monsters if I or Mummy or Daddy is not here."__

_"___I might have given him too many sweets." Severus chuckled as he was standing next to the bed, watching the two boys.__

__Lucius grinned when the shadow of a smile appeared on Cygnus's lips and one of his tiny hands grabbed Lucius's little finger as the man extended his hand to caress the newborn's cheek.__

Lucius was pulled out of his memories by his wife's teary voice. "What have they done to him?"

Lucius's eyes fell on the boy, lying on the bed. The healer was done with removing the glamour and his son was now looking like his true self. His hair had gone from a blackish color to a platinum blonde, from messy to silky but had remained short, his skin had gone from slightly tanned to pale, his lips were thinner, the bones of his face more prominent, a perfect mix of the Malfoys traits and the Black ones. He had clearly inherited Narcissa's straight and elegant nose though. His slender form hadn't changed however. He was still no taller than 5'5 and was still dangerously on the scrawny side. The less prominent change was his ears, they had become pointy at the top, a sign of Cygnus's creature blood.

Narcissa sat on the bed next to her unconscious son and gently ran the back of the hand over his uninjured cheek as silent tears kept falling from her eyes. "My precious little swan."

The healer cleared his throat, forcing Lucius and Narcissa to turn their attention over to him. "I'm afraid we have to discuss your son's injuries, my Lord." He told Lucius as he opened Cygnus's file.

"We are listening." Lucius replied as he rested his hands on his wife's shoulders in a reassuring manner.

"We found a great number of injuries. Most of them have been healed but some will need time to do so. Your son has countless scars on his body, some old of over a decade, he has burn marks as well. His wrists, arms and legs show signs of past breaking and it is obvious that they have never been treated. We managed to correct that. We found four broken ribs, one of them has punctured a lung. Fortunately, he was brought on time and we were able to heal it rather quickly, avoiding ever-lasting damages and, uh..." The healer trailed off, unsure as to how he should anounce the last injury he had found.

"What is it?" Lucius asked through gritted teeth, fighting to keep his cool.

"I'm sorry to have to say that to you but we, uh, we found out that your son has been raped many times over the years," A broken and heartbreaking sob left Narcissa's lips, "creating rather nasty tearings on your son's insides, the last one dating of a few minutes before he was brought here. We tried to heal it as well but it will take a few weeks for your son to recover completely." Narcissa broke down completely right after the healer finshed his tale of Cygnus's injuries. She turned around and hid her face into Lucius's chest, soaking his robes with tears.

"Could you leave us for a moment, please?" Lucius asked, trying to swallow the lump that had formed into his throat. Lucius tried hard to keep his composure in front of the healer but found that he had a very hard time doing so. He wanted so bad to break down and weep for his son's sufferings. It never should have happened. Cygnus had been supposed to stay with us, grow up with us, with his loving and doting family. But instead he had lived for fourteen into a hellhole.

The healer nodded once and was about to leave the room but Lucuis stopped him. "Wait, who brought our son here?"

"It was a certain Sirius Black, my Lord."

*****CM*RL*****


	2. Chapter 2 - Crime Scene

*****CM*RL*****

Lucius kept staring at the closed door long after the healer had left. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. His wife's supposedly blood traitor of a cousin had brought back their son. There was a part of him that wanted to thank the Black Lord for what he did, for allowing them to see their little swan again. But another part of him reamined immensely mad at him and wanted to rip him apart for what he had put the entire Black family through over the years.

"Did he just said that-" Narcissa trailed off, her voice swallowed by her sobs.

"You should rest." Lucius answered, ignoring his wife's question. "Cygnus is not going to wake anytime soon." He pulled Narcissa toward the vacant seat, which he transfigured into another, slightly smaller bed, next to the hospital bed. "I'll keep an eye on him anyway."

Narcissa's sobs subdued to occasional hiccups as her heavy lids started to fall. "I'm sure he did it." She whispered. "Sirius did that to Cygnus. He always wanted to hurt us, no matter how."

"We'll figure it out. Just sleep." Lucius lovingly kissed his dozing wife's forehead and ran his fingers through her blonde hair, untying her already loose bun.

Lucius then silently went to the other seat, next to the door and sat down. He could easily keep an eye on both his son and wife from there. His eyes lingered on his unconscious son and noticed more changes on his small body. He looked more feminine and his hips were slightly wider, a sign of his Submissive nature. The light white bed covers allowed Lucius to see every curve of the boy's body as they hugged his form tightly. His hands, which rested on top of the covers, were unearthly elegant and looked soft to the touch, his fingers were incredibly long and slim. Flawless blond eyelashes rested on Cygnus's high cheeks and slightly darker brows curved perfectly above his closed eyes. His deathly pale skin made the boy's bruises and the circles under his eyes stand out. The sight nearly made Lucius sick to his stomach. The Malfoy patriarch's eyes eventually fell on his son's pointy ears. They had elongated an inch at the top and were perfectly pointed.

Lucius couldn't help but wonder where his son's elvish genes had come from. The gene obviously had been dormant for neither Lucius nor Narcissa had elvish traits. Draco, while he ressembled his younger brother greatly, almost lacked any elvish physical traits. Something must have happened, forcing Cygnus's genes out. Lucius needed to find out where those genes came from though. If one of his ancestors had been an Elf, surely he would have heard about it. Wizards valued Elves greatly. It was a source of immense pride for a Wizard to have an Elf amongst his relatives. The gene must have come from the Black bloodline.

Staring at his son, Lucius couldn't help but be reminded of that fateful day when he was taken away from he and his wife. Lucius would have never gone out if he had known that the Manor would be attacked that night.

__Lucius Apparated in front of the Manor's fences, Narcissa clinging to his arm, not wanting to disturbe the boys, who were probably already asleep, by Apparating inside. Both of them were extremely sensitive to their parents' magic and would sense any kind of magic performed by them, waking up if they were asleep. Cygnus would usually become really fussy at being woken up and Lucius and Narcissa would have a hard time lulling him back to sleep. Draco, on the other hand, would wait for them to come kiss him goodnight once again and would fastly fall back asleep.__

__Lucius walked to the door, Narcissa happily chatting about their upcoming vacation in Italy. She was particularly happy about finally taking their thirteen-month-old Cygnus out of the country for the first time. They were due to leave on January 21st, which was two days ahead. They had just won the war a couple days ago, the last remaining members of the Light side had fled, they were happy. All was well.__

__Both Malfoy parents froze as soon as they stepped into the Manor. They felt magic all around the house. They couldn't recognized whose magic it was, but they were sure it didn't belong to their boys or any person they knew. Lucius's heart started to hammer in his chest in fear. He ran up the stairs and entered Draco's room while Narcissa went to Cygnus's. He sighed in relief when he saw Draco small form curled in bed, sound asleep, a piece of platinum blonde hair coming out of the bedclothes. He gently closed the door of Draco's room and was about to join his wife in Cygnus's but his heart sank when he heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from his youngest son's room. He ran as fast as he could to join his wife and felt his heart break when he saw the state the room was in. The door had been blown out of its hinges and most of the furnitures in the room were broken. Cugnus's deep green bedclothes formed a heap on the floor, leaving the bed empty apart from the deep green pillow, Cygnus's Slytherin green blanket that had never left him since the day he was born and his black stuffed snake. Whoever had taken him away would surely have a hard time keeping Cygnus calm for the little boy had never spent more than a minute away from his little snake.__

__Narcissa had fallen to the floor before Lucius had arrived and was now clutching the green blanket to her chest, sobbing hysterically. "I want my son." She said through her sobs as Lucius sat down next to her and hugged her close. "They took him Lucius, they took him. You have to get him back. He's so small and fragile. And he's going to be so upset when he will realize that he doesn't have his snake." Narcissa rambled hysterically. "You know he is always upset when he doesn't have it."__

__"Sh, it's okay. I'll get him back." He whispered to Narcissa as he rocked her.__

__"Mummy?" Lucius turned toward the door to discover a very sleepy Draco standing there, rubbing his tired eyes and clutching his stuffed dragon to his chest.__

__Lucius hurried to his son and picked him up, walking out of the room before he could see the state of his baby brother's room. He didn't have the heart to deal with an upset, scared and sad three-year-old now. "What are you doing out of bed?"__

__"I heard someone scream. It was scary;" Draco mumbled sleepily, his head resting on Lucius's shoulder, as the man walked his son back to his bed. "Daddy, can I sleep with Cygni tonight?"__

__Lucius's breath caught in his throat and he closed his eyes as he felt his heart break once again. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and took a deep breath. "Not tonight."__

__"Why? I promise I won't wake him." Draco argued. Lucius put his son down on his bed without answering. "Please, Daddy. I promise I won't bother him."__

__"Stop arguing with me." Lucius scolded sternly.__

__"But I want my brother! I want Cygni!" Draco exclaimed loudly.__

__"I said no, Draco!" Lucius yelled, finally loosing his cool. __ __Draco flinched and his eyes started to water. Lucius cursed himself inwardly for scaring his son. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you, Daddy is just tired, okay?" __

__Draco's tears spilled over. "You're being mean. I hate you." He got out of bed and quickly ran out the door of his room.__

__"Draco, come back here." Lucius exclaimed.__

__The last thing Lucius wanted was for Draco to run to his brother's room and find his broken and crying mother and realize that Cygnus was missing. Lucius prayed with all his might that he would be able to catch Draco before he reached his destination. The man sighed in relief when he saw his son run into Narcissa.__

__"Why are you crying, little one?" Narcissa asked him softly as she picked him up.__

__"Daddy's being mean, he yelled at me." Draco whined, hiding his face into his mother's neck.__

__"And why did he do that?" Narcissa's voice was soft and gentle. Lucius briefly wondered how his wife could appear so composed and at peace when she had been crying her heart out mere minutes ago. The only evidence of her previous breakdown was her slightly red and puffy eyes.__

__"I don't know. I just wanted to sleep with Cygni. He always says yes but he said no." Draco hiccuped.__

__"Draco, look at me." Narcissa ordered him gently. "You cannot sleep with Cygni tonight. He's a little ill and we don't want you to be ill as well now, do we?" Draco shook his head. "So, will you be a good boy and go back to bed without making a scene now?" Draco nodded.__

__"Your eyes are all red, Mummy. Did you cry?" Draco asked as he cupped his mother's face with his tiny hands.__

__"Of course not. Mummy is just tired, darling." __ __Narcissa smiled lovingly down at him and walked to Draco's room.__

__She shot Lucius a desperate look as she passed him and smiled softly at her son a second later as he asked if she would stay with him until he fell back asleep. The fair-haired wizard then went to his study, to begin his search of his son but he nearly threw up as soon as he stepped inside. Right next to his study, forming a heap, were his house-elves, every one of them. Their blood was dripping on his flawless white carpet, turning it into a crimson red color. On top of them was a neatly folded piece of parchment. He opened it and red.__

__**Such a waste. Don't worry, we'll take care of him.**__

Lucius was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a lone tear run down his cheek. He quickly wipped it away and relished in the feeling of finally having his son back. He had searched for Cygnus for years on end, in vain. He had asked everyone he knew if they recognized the handwriting on the note but he always returned empty-handed. He asked for Tom and every Death Eater to hunt down the remaining Light wizards, hoping that he would find his son with one of them, in vain. As the years passed, Narcissa fell into a deep, endless depression, Lucius got used to hiding his sadness behind a cold and emotionless mask which he only gave up when he was alone with his wife in their bedchambers, and Draco learned to live with the knowledge that his baby brother had been taken away from him and that his parents were broken. They had never stopped searching though.

*****CM*RL*****

Draco ran to the reception as soon as he lended in St. Mungo's and asked the nurse if she had seen his parents. He completely ignored his Godfather as he waited for the old witch to check. A much younger nurse recognized him somehow and gave him the number of the room she had led his parents right away, preventing him from ripping the older nurse apart. Draco ran to the room, ignoring Severus's cries to slow down.

He burst into the room and his eyes fell on his mother's sleeping form first, and then on his suprised father's face. He looked around and his eyes finally caught sight of the unconscious blonde boy in the hospital bed. He frowned deeply when he noticed that he looked a great lot like himself. His eyes flew back to his mother and her tear-stained cheeks and then went back to the boy. It eventually sank in.

"Is he-?" He asked his father, unable to finish his sentence.

Lucius sighed and mutely nodded. Draco's jaw dropped in shock as tears gathered in his eyes. He couldn't believe it. __He__ was here. His little brother was here. After all these years, fourteen long years, they had finally found him. "Are you sure?"

Draco didn't want to get his hopes up, sure the boy looked like he was his brother but if it turned that he wasn't, Draco would be devastated, as he was sure his parents would be. Lucius nodded once again and handed him a piece of parchment which he quickly read.

**__**Full name:**__****__** Cygnus Etamin Malfoy**__**

**__**Father**__****__**: Lucius Abraxas Malfoy**__**

**__**Mother**__****__**: Narcissa Druella Malfoy (Née Black)**__**

**__**Birth Date**__****__**: December 19th 1982**__**

**__**Status**__****__**: Submissive Elf**__**

He grinned at his father as his tears finally spilled over. They would finally get to be a family. He saw something flash in his father's eyes and he fastly got up from his chair. "Keep an eye on them. I'm coming back, I just have to check on something."

He left before Draco could answer. The seventeen-year-old sighed and let himself fall on the chair. He wanted to check on his mother and brother but the last thing he wanted was to wake them up so he held back. He took a moment to examine his brother's small form, from his platinum blonde hair to his elegant hands, his body being hidden by the bedclothes. He truly was a Malfoy, except for his pointy ears. He had to ask his father about that. He didn't understand how his brother could be en Elf.

It wasn't long before Draco heard a pain-filled groan and blue eyes shot open. Draco smiled when he recognized Cygnus's icy blue eyes that looked so much like his mother's. He walked to the foot of the bed. "Hey Cygni."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise and fear as he shot out of the bed and crawled to the far corner of the room and pulled his knees to his chest, curling on himself, ignoring his protesting muscles. "Please." He whimpered weakly as he hid his face into his knees.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." Draco tried to soothe him.

The boy slowly raised his head and looked at Draco square in the eyes. The older blonde smiled, trying to calm his panicking brother but the only response he got was a frown, not the smile he expected. "Who-Who are you?' The boy stammered as his eyes watered.

"I'm your brother."

*****CM*RL*****


	3. Chapter 3 - My Blood

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A small frown appeared on Cygnus's face. "You're my brother?"

"I am. And that's our mum." Draco said, pointing at Narcissa's sleeping form.

"I have a mum?" Cygnus's eyes watered in distress.

"Of course you have one, Cygni."

Cygnus shook his head. "I'm not the one you think I am. My name's Harry and my parents are dead. My aunt and uncle told me." Cygnus got up on shaky legs. "I need to go. My uncle will be very angry if notices that I'm gone."

"You can't go." Draco protested as he blocked the door. "You have to listen to me, please."

"I don't know you. I'm not supposed to talk to anyone. I'm not even supposed to be out of the house." Cygnus took his head in his hands. "Uncle is going to be so mad. So mad, so mad, so mad, so so mad..." He kept repeating it like a mantra which slightly scared Draco.

"Cygni, please. Calm down."

"I'm not your Cygni!" Cygnus shouted. "My name is Harry! You don't understand, okay!? You can't. I was supposed to stay in my cupboard. Uncle is going to be mad now, all because of you!"

Narcissa jolted awake because of Cygnus's screams while Draco's mouth hung open in shock. "Y-your c-cupboard?" Draco stammered.

"You're awake." Narcissa whispered in awe. She hadn't expected her son to wake up so soon.

Cygnus's head snapped toward Narcissa. "I need to go home." Tears of distress started to spill over. "Please, Uncle is going to be so mad at me."

Narcissa frowned slightly. "What's your name, little one?"

"H-Harry." He hiccuped.

Narcissa gracefully got out of the bed and walked to her scared son, stretching her hand for him to take. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to show you something."

Cygnus reluctantly took her hand and they walked to the en suite bathroom, Cygnus hissing in pain all the way. He had been too scared and surprised to notice the way his entire body ached. But he was well aware of it now. They walked to the full-length mirror. Cygnus gasped as his appearance.

"I don't look like myself." His voice was no louder than whisper.

"That's what you really look like, darling. Bad people made you look like someone else." Narcissa explained as she ran a hand through her son's hair. She bit back a smile as he didn't pull away from her.

Cygnus took a moment to check his new appearance. His dark hair had turned platinum blonde, his slightly tanned skin had turned pale, the bones of his face were sharper and more prominent, his lips were a bit thinner and his nose was smaller and straighter. He was still too thin and too small though. He then noticed that he was not wearing his glasses yet he was seeing very clearly. His irises had changed from emerald green to a striking icy blue.

"I look like you." He mumbled eventually.

The woman's hair was a darker shade of blonde and was gathered in a messy bun. Her features were as sharp as his and her nose was the twin of his own. Her complexion was as pale as Cygnus's. Their most noticeable similarity was their eyes. Cygnus's eyes were shockingly the exact same color as the woman's.

"You're really my mum then?" Cygnus's eyes began to water once again as he turned around to face her. She nodded mutely, her hand leaving his hair to cup his face. "Why did you leave me with those awful people then? Didn't you love me?"

A dry sob escaped Narcissa's lips as her son's tears ran down his cheeks. "Oh darling." She pulled him into a tight hug, not noticing the way he tensed up. "Of course I love you. You're my little baby, I love you more than anything. I never meant to leave you there. People took you away from us." She pulled away and looked at him square in the eyes. "We love you, we would never have abandonned you on purpose."

Cygnus smiled tentatively. There was an awful lot of questions that he wanted to ask but they could wait. All he wanted for now was relish in the feeling on being near his mother. The teen jumped when the bathroom door burst open, revealing a tall and strong man. Cygnus hid behind his newfound mother, peeking over her shoulder to examine the man.

He was tall, way taller than Cygnus and his mum and had a really strong build. He had platinum blonde hair that went down to the middle of his back and was matching Cygnus's in color. He had pale skin and sharp features. His thin lips reminded Cygnus of his own. And he had silver gray eyes that he remembered seeing on the young man that had claimed to be his brother in the room. It eventually sank in that Cygnus looked like both his mum and this man.

"You're my dad, right?" Cygnus mumbled from his hiding place.

The man's lips turned into a smile, making the dark circles under his eyes slightly less prominent. He nodded mutely. Cygnus caught sight of his supposedly brother standing behind his dad, smiling warmly at him. He smiled back but it quickly turned into a grimace as excruciating pain shot through his entire body and his world started to spin before it turned into complete darkness. He heard a woman call for a Cygnus and then nothing.

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When Cygnus woke up, he was plagued with a terrible headache. He felt like his head was being continuously hit by a hammer. He could his blood throbbing through his head. He realized that other than the sound of his running blood, it was awfully quiet around him. He tentatively opened on eye, testing if he would somehow be blinded by a light.

The room immersed in darkness, the lights were out and the curtains were drawn. Then it all came back to him. He had found his family. He was feeling funny inside. His heart was beating fast and butterflies were wreaking havoc in his stomach. It was all he had ever wanted, to be reunited with his family. Sure he had thought that his parents were different people and were dead for most of life but he knew the truth now, part of it at least. All he wanted was a loving family and he had it now. He was sure that he would have no problem accepting them, all he had to do was get to know them and then he would be happy, he would never have to go back to the Dursleys.

Cygnus looked around the room and his eyes fell on his mother and brother's sleeping forms. They were cuddled close on the bed next to his and had small contented smiles on their faces, happiness pouring out of their skin. The teen had the urge to go over to them and cuddle close as well. His eyes then fell on the window and he realized that it actually was the middle of the night.

"Mornin', sleepyhead."

Cygnus nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard a low, rough, deep voice. He quickly hid under the bedclothes as he didn't recognize the voice. He hated new people, it usually meant more people to hurt him. He began panting in fear, sweat soaking his forehead as his frightened heart beat faster.

"Hey, you can come out. I'm not going to hurt you." The voice said, sounding like it was now right next to the bed.

Cygnus peeked over the covers and looked at the man the voice belonged to, and he was indeed standing next to the bed. He seemed to be as tall as Cygnus's father and slightly more muscled. He had short, wavy brown hair and sharp cheekbones. His facial bones were slightly less sharp than Cygnus's families but they were sharp nonetheless. The light of the moon that was shining through the curtains allowed Cygnus to catch sight of the man's midnight blue eyes. He couldn't deny that the man was beautiful.

"It's okay. You father just told me to come and keep an eye on you tonight while he was away. Looks like some people are looking for you." The ghost of a smile appeared on the man's lips. "Wouldn't want you to disappear again now, would we?" What Cygnus thought was a smile turned out to be a smirk.

"You know my dad?" Cygnus asked suspiciously. It still felt weird to call anyone dad but he was sure he would get used to it. It was then that he realized that he didn't even know his parents' names, or his brother's for that matter. He felt stupid for not asking sooner.

"Mhm." The man sat on the edge of Cygnus's bed which made the teen back away. "We're... friends, sort of." The man chuckled. "Actually, my brother married your aunt, your mother's sister."

"So you're my uncle?" Cygnus sat up straighter and nearly let go of the bedclothes, relieved to learn that the man was family and not some crazy stranger that would hurt him.

"Not quite." The man narrowed his eyes which shone with mirth. "I'm more like a.. distant relative. Or a family's friend. A family's friend is good."

"What's your name then?" This man intrigued Cygnus somehow. He had known for him for a couple minutes and yet he couldn't help but want to learn more about him. Strangely enough, he felt safe and protected. The sensation made Cygnus frown inwardly. He had never felt safe before, so why some stranger, even if he was a __family's friend__, was making him feel that way?

The man smirked. "Rabastan. Rabastan Lestrange."

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	4. Chapter 4 - Better With You

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"That's a weird name." Cygnus mumbled. "But I like it." He quickly added when Rabastan narrowed his eyes.

"You better." Rabastan said playfully. "And I like yours."

Cygnus wrinkled his nose. "Harry is pretty boring compared to yours."

Rabastan chuckled. "But that's not your name."

Cygnus remained silent for long minutes. "Right. What's my real name then?"

"That'd be Cygnus."

"Oh. So that's why my brother called me Cygni earlier." Cygnus' face lit up in realization.

"I suppose so. You were named after your mother's father, that's what Bella told me at least." Rabastan explained.

"Who's Bella?"

"Your aunt. My sister-in-law. Her name's Bellatrix."

"That's a beautiful name." Cygnus smiled and then a deep blush appeared on his cheeks as he wanted to ask Rabastan about his parents' names but didn't how.

Rabastan decided that he liked that blush and would do anything to make it appear on Cygnus' sweet cheeks from now on. A flushed Cygnus was the cutest thing in the world in his opinion. "Go on, you can ask me anything." He urged the teen as he noticed that he was nearly turning crimson red.

"Um... I, uh, I wanted to-to know if, maybe, you-you knew my p-parents' names." Cygnus stammered.

A flushed and stammering Cygnus was way better than a simply flushed Cygnus. Rabastan relished in the sight the teen made. "Course I do. What would you do for me to tell you?" The Lestrange Heir asked playfully, his midnight blue eyes boring holes into Cygnus's.

Cygnus's eyes widened dramatically and a blend of surprise and fear flashed through them. The teen subconsciously tightened his hold on the bedclothes and pulled them up to his chin. Rabastan winced inwardly at his foolishness. "I was kidding. I was just kidding, I promise." He lifted his hands in surrender and got off the bed. He went back to the chair he occupied before and took hold of it, moving deliberately slow. He put the chair next to Cygnus' bed and sat down on it. "See? Not gonna hurt you."

A nervous smile appeared on Cygnus' lips. His grip on the covers slackened as his muscles slightly relaxed. Rabastan awkwardly cleared his throat. "Your mother's name is Narcissa, way too vain if you ask me. Your father's name is Lucius, way too pompous. And your brother's name is Draco, a typical brat's name."

A giggle escaped Cygnus' lips at the way Rabastan mocked his family. The man was funny, and carefree, and kind. He got a little scared of him before but Cygnus realized that he might have overreacted a bit. He decided that he liked him. __Very much__. The teen loved the way his family's names were gracious and elegant. It fitted them perfectly. His favorite name remained his own though. He liked the way he was named after his grandfather above all.

"And your last name's Malfoy by the way. Still pompous. You'll have to thank your dear daddy for that." Rabastan chuckled.

Cygnus. His name was Cygnus. __Cygnus Malfoy__. He loved it. He had his grandfather's name and his father's last name. He would be sure to wear it with pride. It was certainly better than Harry. Plain and boring Harry. Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy and Cygnus Malfoy. It was so graceful!

"What was Mum's last name before she married Dad?" Cygnus asked. He wanted to know everything.

"She was a Black."

Cygnus nodded absentmindedly. He mentally made quick summary of the people he knew now. Lucius Malfoy, his dad. Narcissa Malfoy, his mum who was born a Black. Draco Malfoy, his brother. Bellatrix Lestrange, his aunt who was also born a Black. Cygnus Black, his maternal grandfather. And then there was Rabastan, his aunt's husband's brother. His uncle's brother really and who didn't want Cygnus to consider him an uncle. Rabastan Lestrange. It had a certain ring to it. He yawned heavily, pulling himself out of his musings.

"Can I ask you more questions?" Cygnus asked bashfully.

"Obviously." Rabastan smiled warmly. "That's why I'm here for."

"Thought you were here to protect me." The fair-haired teen said sleepily.

Rabastan laughed wholeheartedly. "Got me here, smartass."

"Rabastan, shut up!" Draco hissed from his place on the bed, making both Cygnus and Rabastan jump out of their skin.

"I'm sorry, your Highness. You can go back to your beauty sleep now." Rabastan replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Draco lifted his head up from his pillow to glare at the man. "I hate you." He hissed dangerously. "And leave my brother alone. __He__ needs his sleep. He doesn't need you to bother him with your preposterous and useless sarcasm."

Rabastan ignored Draco and turned back toward Cygnus. "I gotta admit that you look... exhausted. A cute exhausted, mind you, but exhausted anyway."

Cygnus was too tired to do anything other than yawn, he couldn't even find it in himself to blush when Rabastan described him as cute. He nuzzled his pillow. He wanted to stay awake and talk with Rabastan, learn more and more about his new family but his eyelids were growing heavy. He couldn't keep them open anymore.

"G'night, Rabi." He mumbled in his pillow without even realizing.

Rabastan snorted at the nickname the teen had given him. No one had ever called him that before. His brother often called him 'Rab', the Malfoys did it too sometimes, merely because they knew that he despised the nickname. But here Cygnus was, a teen he had known for no more than an hour, calling him Rabi as if they had been best-friends for years. Rabastan didn't mind it though, he found it endearing that Cygnus liked him enough to give him a nickname.

"Night, little elfling." He whispered back, the teen already fast asleep. He groaned when a pillow hit him square in the head. He had never hated Draco as much as he did now.

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Cygnus slowly woke up the next morning, feeling something press on his thigh. He sleepily opened his eyes and caught sight of a sleeping Rabastan, still seated on his chair, but he was now bent over, his head resting on Cygnus' thigh. The teen tried to lift his leg but it only caused Rabastan to frown in his sleep and to nuzzle his thigh. Cygnus giggled. Rabastan's head was facing Cygnus, allowing him to watch him sleep. His face was completely relaxed, making him look a lot younger, Cygnus could have sworn he was no older than twenty-five. Which reminded him that he had to ask Rabastan about his age. Cygnus loved the way the man's eyelids fluttered as he dreamt, his dark eyelashes resting softly on his cheekbones.

Cygnus nearly jumped out of his skin when the door opened, revealing a tired-looking Lucius. His legs moved on their own accord, waking Rabstan up in the process while Narcissa and Draco slept on. Something flashed through Lucius' eyes as they fell on Rabastan's head resting on his son's thigh.

"Get up." He said sternly while Rabastan tiredly rubbed his eyes. "We have to talk."

Rabastan frowned and nodded mutely. He got up and shot a smile at Cygnus when he caught him staring. "It was nice talking to you. See you soon, I hope at least. Love your ears by the way." He smirked and left the room, Lucius short on his tail.

Cygnus frowned, trying to comprehend what Rabastan had told him. He reached for his ears and a surprised squeak left his mouth when he felt their pointy ends. He slowly got out of the bed, careful as to not wake his mother and his brother and went to the mirror in the bathroom. He was still wearing his deep green pyjamas that he had woke up in yesterday. And here they were, his ears. They were as pale as the rest of his skin; deadly pale. They had grown an inch since the last time he had saw them and were now pointy. He touched them, they were incredibly soft, like silk.

"Are you okay?" Draco whispered softly as he appeared behind him.

Cygnus shrugged helplessly, still staring at his ears. Who was he? He as sure as hell wasn't the teen he had been two days ago. He wasn't even human anymore. __What__ was he? He didn't even know. He threw a quick glance at his brother through the mirror and saw that his ears were perfectly normal. Cygnus was the only one with pointy ears. He was not normal. Maybe __they__ were right then. A freak. That's all he was. A disgusting freak. He wondered how Rabastan had managed to talk to him through the night, how he had managed to stand next to a freak such as himself. He was glad that Rabastan was gone now, he would not be infected with his freakishness then. It was all for the best.

"They were right." Cygnus mumbled, his eyes wide with abhorrence. He hated himself. He silently slid down to the floor, clutching his ears between his hands, trying to make them disappear.

"What are you talking about?" Draco knelt down next to his brother.

"They were right. I'm a freak. I'm not even human. I'm a freak. A freak." He started to rock back and forth. "Go away. Go away."

"Cygni." Draco mumbled, his eyes filling with tears at his brother's distress.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Cygnus screamed.

Every item made of glass, the mirror and the window exploded. Every bit of mirror fell on the boys, scratching and piercing Draco's skin while Cygnus remained suspiciously unharmed.

*****CM*RL*****

Rabastan stretched, his bones cracking back into place as he started to walk down the deserted hallway. He almost winced and let out a hiss when Lucius forcibly grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop and turn toward the fair-haired man. The brunette tried to appreciate Lucius' features as he faced him but they lacked a certain softness and endearing icy blue eyes for Rabastan to completely be captivated.

"What were you doing?" He hissed through gritted teeth.

"Sleepin'?" Rabastan had to admit that he was at a kind of a loss here.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it! I'm not going to let you do that. He's my son, not one of your sluts."

Rabastan nearly chocked on his saliva. "He's fifteen!" He protested, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Exactly. He's fifteen. So you'll do well to remember to stay away from him, am I understood?" Lucius' voice was dangerously low and threatening. So much so that a cold sweat broke onto Rabastan's forehead.

"Y-Yeah." He stuttered pathetically.

"Good." Lucius' smile was menacingly sweet as he lightly slapped Rabastan's cheek. "I don't want to see you near my son ever again. __Never__." The fair-haired man's voice was dripping with venom. "Leave."

Rabastan nodded hastily but froze when he heard a scream and an extremely loud crashing sound.

*****CM*RL*****


	5. Chapter 5 - It's On Again

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Lucius rushed to his son's room, completely ignoring Rabastan who was following him, and ended up in the bathroom as the main room was suspiciously empty. The sight that greeted him there nearly made his eyes jump out of their sockets. Everything that had been made of glass was now in pieces on the floor, some of them had inserted themselves into Draco's skin, who was unconscious on the tiled floor. Blood was profusely coming out from a gash on his left side and one particularly nasty gash on his left thigh. Narcissa was a sobbing mess on the floor, Draco's head resting on her lap. She was making quick work at healing their oldest son though. Their youngest son, on the other hand, was curled in on himself in the far corner of the bathroom, rocking back and forth, and muttering words under his breath. Words that Lucius couldn't make out.

Cygnus looked up when he felt other people in the room. His eyes widened at seeing his father. "I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't mean to." He sobbed helplessly. He was so sure that his father would beat him up now and then would abandon him again. But perhaps he deserved it now. Then his eyes fell on Rabastan standing right next to his father. "Rabi." He mumbled in a pleading voice, stretching his arms toward the man, silently begging for comfort.

Rabastan was not gone after all, he had stayed. Maybe he did not hate him then. Not yet at least. Cygnus decided that he would do anything for Rabastan to not hate him as he probably was the only one left that did not hate him yet. His parents and his brother surely hated him for what he had just done to Draco. A small frown appeared on Cygnus' face when he saw Rabastan take a step toward him only to stop, throw a glance at his father and then, without a word, he left. Cygnus couldn't do anything other than cry himself to sleep, not noticing arms wrapping around him and carrying him to bed.

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Albus Dumbledore calmly stepped through the Floo. The small house was quiet except for Lily's sweet and calm voice. James came through the door, not suprised to see Albus in the slightest. James Potter was used to the old man dropping by often. He was Daniel's Godfather after all. And with Dan being done with his classes for three long weeks, Albus would be here often.

The members of the Order of the Phoenix had taken to teach the kids instead of sending them to Hogwarts. The school was ruled by one Amycus Carrow as Headmaster and one Alecto Carrow as Deputy Headmistress and it had been this way ever since Voldemort won the war. The Order couldn't possibly risk the children by sending them to Hogwarts, it would have been like sending them to Death. And so they had started teaching them since they were eleven, just as if they had been at Hogwarts. There were very few students during the classes. There was Daniel, the Potter Heir; Neville Longbottom, son of Frank and Alice Longbottom; Ronald and Ginevra Weasley, the last two Weasleys who were to attend classes; Hermione Granger, a Muggleborn the Order had managed to save from Hogwarts; Lavender Brown; the Patil twins; Seamus Finnigan; Dean Thomas and Luna Lovegood, daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood. And that was about it. Classes had ended the day before, right at the same time as classes had ended at Hogwarts.

"Albus, it's so good to see you!" James exclaimed cheerfully.

"There's no time. Where's Daniel?" Albus asked, his face emotionless.

James frowned. "In the living-room with Lily, why?"

"Make him go upstairs, I need to talk to you and Lily."

James didn't ask any questions, he went to the living-room and did as Albus had told him. Daniel didn't question his father's order and did what he was bid to. It was so unsual to see Albus with such a closed-off expression that it made everyone a bit uneasy.

"What is it Albus?" James demanded once he, Albus and Lily were seated on the couch.

"The boy is gone." His eyes shone with anger and frustration.

Lily gasped and James felt anger boil in the pit of his stomach. It was not supposed to be like that. The boy, he was more like a nuisance really, was supposed to stay with Lily's horrid sister and her family until the end of his days. They had hoped that with the way Petunia and her husband had taken to treating him, the boy would quickly die. But as the years passed, they had stopped hoping and had just stopped caring. They would have never thought that the boy could actually escape or that someone could save him. No one knew that the boy was there except for James himself, Lily, Albus and Sirius. James was sure neither of them had done anything that would somehow save the boy. He just didn't understand how the boy could be gone.

"Where is he?" Lily asked once she had recovered from her initial shock.

"I'm afraid I don't know. I tried looking for any sign of magic around the neighborhood but there was none. I couldn't trace the boy."

"Do you think that he could be back with the Malfoys?" James inquired. If it was the case, they would have to kidnap the boy once again and they would have to act quickly. Or maybe they should just kill him. They wouldn't have to worry about him anymore, that would resolve all of their problems. Well, not all of them but most of them at least.

"I'm afraid so, my boy." Albus sighed. "We have to look for him. We can't let the Malfoys get a hold of the boy. We would be doomed then."

"We're well aware of that Albus, but how do you suggest we proceed? The brat could be anywhere." James said.

"I will summon the Order. We need everyone on this case. The sooner we find him, the better."

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James frowned as he Apparated to St. Mungos. The meeting had just ended, every member of the Order had been there. All except one. Sirius. James was worried. His best-friend had never missed a meeting. __Never__. James brushed his worries aside, Sirius was probably in bed anyway. He had taken to sleeping around lately. Something that James didn't understand and couldn't help but judge his best-friend for.

The spectacled man walked calmly toward the reception, head hidden under his hood. He hadn't walked more than two meters when he saw a familiar man walk toward him, muttering to himself under his breath. James froze wondering if he should take advantage of the man's distracted state or if he should just look through the hospital himself.

He could probably get answers from the man but there was the slight chance that he was unaware of what had happened. But then, there was the chance that he was aware of the boy's whereabouts and James would miss his chance if he just passed that man. James was at a loss here, he didn't know what to do. He had never been in such a situation before, he wished Lily was here. Usually she was the one who took the last minute decisions.

James busied himself by looking at some papers resting on top of the reception counter when the man walked past him, still muttering to himself. He looked a bit crazy like that, but then again, James had always thought he was crazy.

"...Always treats me like that...fifteen..."

James sneered at the man's madness. Everytime he saw him, all he wanted to do was mock him and hex him into oblivion. Pretty much like every person that was not a friend of his or a member of the Order actually. He had never had the occasion of making the man's life a living hell at Hogwarts, but only because he was nine years younger than James and so James had already graduated when he had started attending the school.

"Can I help you, sir?" An old nurse asked James, making him jump hard.

"No, thanks." He muttered back.

"Are you.. James Potter?" She whispered to him.

His head snapped toward her, looking away from his prey for the first time. "Don't say anything, I wouldn't want to hurt you."

"Of course I won't. We're on the same side."

James was beyond annoyed with the crone but managed a small smile anyway. "I have to go now."

He left without waiting for an answer from the woman. He hated it when people approached him to tell him that they were on the same side whereas they were working for Voldemort. People he really considered on his side were the rebels, the ones hiding, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Not the ones submitting to an evil tyrant who believed himself a fair ruler. The only one who was worthy enough to rule the Wizarding World was Dumbledore, or himself.

James hoped that he could catch his prey before he managed to Apparate or Floo away. Luckily enough, he decided to take the Floo. James casually walked to him, pretending to be waiting to use the Floo. The man was still muttering to himself but James heard him say his destination quite clearly. The Leaky Cauldron.

James Flooed right after him. He wrapped his Invisibility Cloak around him and kept an eye on the man as he asked for a room. He then followed him as he slowly walked through the corridors. James checked his surroundings, to be sure that they were alone. They were. Strangely enough, the man didn't even notice that someone was following him, too caught up in his thoughts and his mutterings about someone being too protective and completely stupid.

James struck then. Right before they reached the man's room. He threw a __Stupefy__ at him before the man could even register what was happening. He covered the both of them with his Cloak and Apparated away.

*****CM*RL*****

Cygnus woke up with a gasp. He had had an awful nightmare. He had dreamt that he was not human. He had freaked out and then he had hurt his brother without even knowing how he did it. And then his parents hated him and Rabastan hated him as well and had abandoned him.

"Are you okay?" His father asked him from his place next to the bed.

Cygnus nodded and smiled back when a small smile of relief graced his father's lips. He looked around the room and noticed that the sun was shining bright through the window, he guessed that it was probably early morning. Cygnus loved the sun, he loved it when it was warm outside even more so when it was December. He had spent endless days mowing the lawn and planting more and more flowers and plants in the cold, often ending up with the flu. And so he had taken to enjoying the sun every chance he got.

"You love sunny days I see." Cygnus nodded, never taking his eyes away from the window. "Do you want to go outside to enjoy the sun for a bit?"

Cygnus' head snapped toward his father, so fast that the room spinned for a second. "Can I?" He asked eagerly, grinning madly.

"Of course. But you'll have to let me carry you, you over-exhausted yourself a bit yesterday." Lucius said. Cygnus frowned slightly, he wanted to ask his father what he meant exactly but he wanted to enjoy the sun even more. It had been so long since he had been able to see even a sun ray. He could always question his father once they were back.

Cygnus stretched his arms toward his father, expecting to be picked up but Lucius sat on the bed instead. "Climb on my back, it will be easier that way."

Cygnus complied, wrapping his arms around his father's neck and his legs tightly around his waist. He smiled as he buried his nose in his father's silky hair and smelled his sweet scent. He felt so happy right now. All he was missing was his mum, Draco and Rabi.

"Where are Mum and Draco?" Cygnus asked as Lucius started walking out of the room.

"They.. had something they needed to take care of. They will be back soon." Cygnus nodded, resting his head on his father's shoulder.

They chatted happily all the way to the exit, neither noticing that Cygnus was still wearing his dark green pajamas. They ignored every person they passed. Some of them were smiling sweetly and some of them glaring daggers at their backs. Lucius put his son down once they were standing in the sun. Cygnus sat down in the first small patch of grass he found, Lucius following suit.

"I love being in the sun." Cygnus smiled, snuggling into his father's side. He started to play with small blades of grass. "Where's Rabi?" He asked, a small frown on his face.

Lucius's eyebrows shot up at the nickname his son had given to the Lestrange brother. "He... had to leave. He had to visit a friend of his, he might be gone for a moment. He looked a little upset when he left. I wouldn't except to see him anytime soon if I were you, son."

"Oh." Cygnus pouted slightly and went back to his game. He had to admit he was a little upset. He wanted to see Rabastan again, he had been fun when they had talked and he loved funny people. "Can we go back inside?" He didn't feel like enjoying the sun anymore.

*****CM*RL*****

Tom felt his wards shake madly, as if someone had tried to forcefully enter the manor. He retrieved his wand and hurried outside. What he found nearly made swallow his tongue up. There, on the floor, just outside the fences, was one Sirius Black. He walked up to him, a smirk on his face, and his wand at the ready. "What are you doing here?" He spat at the man.

"I, uh, I'm looking for.. Voldemort." He stammered.

"What do you want from him?" Tom narrowed his eyes, he was rather glad that the Black Lord only knew his snake-like form and that he didn't recognize him when he looked like.. well, a human. It gave him the occasion to play with the man's nerves.

"I just want to talk to him." Sirius got up from the floor.

"You can talk to me." Tom suggested.

"With your wand still pointed at me? I think I'll pass, thank you. Besides, I'll only talk to him, no one else."

Tom got a little annoyed at the man's behavior. What was he? A child? "Do I really need to persuade you?" He digged his wand into Sirius's neck threateningly.

"Okay." Sirius looked around to check if they were alone even though it obviously was unnecessary. "I want to switch sides."


	6. Chapter 6 - Chained

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"You want to what?" It took Tom everything he had to not let his jaw drop in shock. He had been prepared to hear anything but that.

"I want to join your side." Sirius's voice wavered slightly as if he had been afraid of Tom's reaction.

"Why would you want to do that?"

Sirius looked at Tom for a long moment, weigning the pros and cons in his head. His gray eyes flashed with doubts, unsure of how much he should reveal to the man. "There are.. people I need to protect."

"People? I thought your friends were all Gryffindors. Well, Light Wizards at least."

"I don't have any friends left." Sirius mumbled, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Who would you want to protect then?" Tom's crimson red eyes shone with mirth, enjoying the fact that he managed to get answers from the Black Lord so easily. He had always wanted to lure the oldest Black into his ranks but Dumbledore had already brainwashed the teen Sirius had been back then. The old coot had compelled him into leaving his family and joining the Light side.

Sirius slowly shook his head. "I want to speak with Voldemort only, not you."

Tom lowered his wand from Sirius's neck and took a step forward, making the other man tense up even more. Tom chuckled. "He could be listening. Perhaps he has been listening since you got here."

Sirius frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Just talk to me. I'll make sure to never tell a soul, except for the Dark Lord obviously." Tom smirked. "Who is it that you want to protect?"

Sirius stared deep into Tom's eyes. "My son. I want to protect my son."

Well, that was unexpected.

*****CM*RL*****

Rabastan woke up to the sound of a door slamming shut. The noise echoed through his head, making it hurt even more. He literally felt like his head had been slammed against a wall. He tried to move but found that he couldn't feel his arms and his feet didn't even touch the ground. He frowned and slowly opened his eyes. He looked up, only to see that chains were wrapped around his wrists, holding his arms above his head. He then looked down and noticed that his feet were three inches above the dirty ground. Moreover, the room smelt like death. So much so that Rabastan couldn't help but wrinkle his nose. He wished he could hold his breath until he managed to get out without dying.

"Great." He sighed.

"Awake at last, my boy." A voice exclaimed cheerfully from behind him. He knew that voice. He recognized it way too easily and honestly he wished he hadn't. He wished he had dreamt that voice. __Dumbledore__.

"Oh Merlin, I hate you." His shoulders sagged in defeat, pain shooting through both of them.

"That's not very nice now, is it my boy?" Rabastan could have bet that Dumbledore's eyes were fucking twinkling.

"I'm not your boy. Never have, never will." He spat. He was getting annoyed. He wanted out and now. His arms were starting to hurt badly and his shoulders felt like they might dislodge themselves any moment.

"That's no matter. You'll realize your mistake in a moment." He finally appeared in Rabastan's field of view. He was wearing his usual eccentric robes. Seemed like they were purple today, creating a huge contrast with his long white beard. He stared at Rabastan through his moon-shaped spectacles. "Now, I want to know where the boy is."

"What boy?" Rabastan answered without thinking. He knew very well which boy Dumbledore was talking about.

Dumbledore tsked, a sweet smile on his lips. __Too sweet__. "It's not good to lie, my boy."

"Stop calling me that!" Rabastan yelled, his temper wearing thin.

"Such a short temper." Dumbledore said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, I swear I'm gonna make you swallow that beard up once I'm free." Rabastan spat through gritted teeth. He knew very well what Dumbledore was trying to do. But Rabastan couldn't help himself. He couldn't keep his temper in check when he was in the same room as that filth. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

Dumbledore slightly shook his head. "The boy. Where is he?"

"Don't know." He smirked smugly. He decided right then and there that he would rather anger the man with his smugness than lose his own temper. He would relish in Dumbledore's anger.

He wanted to drive Albus Dumbledore __mad__.

"I'm not sure you're aware of what you're getting yourself into, my boy."

"What? You want to hurt me? Torture me? __Crucio__ me for hours on end? Go ahead. Trust me, I've had worse."

Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle. "I'm going to have to call James, my boy. I'm sure you don't want that."

Rabastan laughed wholeheartedly. "Do it then." He smirked. "Call your little bitch in. Make him hurt me so you won't have to dirty your wrinkled little hands." Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm never going to tell you anything."

"He'll make you scream." Dumbledore said sternly in an attempt to scare Rabastan even a little bit.

He chuckled humorlessly. "I don't think so. The only man who has ever managed to make me scream is far, far away from here. Your little Potter won't even succeed in getting a whimper out of me."

Dumbledore sighed in disappointment as if he had wanted Rabastan to give him another answer just so that he could save him from being tortured by James. "We'll see." He shrugged carelessly and walked out of the room.

Rabastan sighed in annoyance and exhaustion. He was getting tired and his arms were still hurting which was not helping at all. He took a moment to look around the room, hoping to get his mind off the pain for a bit. Unfortunately, the room was bare. There was nothing to keep him entertained other that stains on the dirty white walls and piles of dust on the floor. The only thing in the room was himself. He quickly lifted his left leg up, to bring it close to his face, hoping to get his wand that was supposed to be in his shoe. But it was empty. They had taken his wand.

Rabastan then looked at the floor, hoping to catch sight of a trap or something that might allow him to escape. But there was too much dust for him to see clearly. That was when he caught sight of the bloodstains. They were right under him, huge stains of blood. They had tortured people in this room before and apparently they had made them bleed. Profusely.

"Oh great, this is getting better and better. Looks like Merlin's with me today." Rabastan cursed himself inwardly for his foolishness. Potter shouldn't have been able to catch him. He should have been more careful. He would need to break Lucius's nose for that. If the man hadn't assumed things when he had caught him sleeping on Cygni's bed then Rabastan wouldn't have been so distracted. He wouldn't even have left St. Mungo's. Yes, Lucius was clearly to blame here.

Rabastan started to pull on his chains in an attempt to detach them from the ceiling. Yet, he stopped moving altogether when he heard ushered voices.

"We need to know." He could have recognized Dumbledore's old voice anywhere.

"I'm not going in there."

"We need the boy."

"Why? We could just kill him." The voice was louder now and Rabastan managed to recognize it as being Potter's. Potter and Dumbledore were having a bit of a disagreement then. Rabastan smirked.

"You know we can't, just as much as we can't let the Malfoys have him. You know __what__ he is." Rabastan frowned in confusion.

"How would the boy being an Elf change anything?"

"He's the last one. The last Elf. He's going to be powerful, extremely powerful. The Blacks are their last heirs. Narcissa carries the gene. When Draco was born, I was relieved to learn that he showed no sign of having Elvish genes. But then, Cyngus was born. I knew we had to take him away from the second my spy told me he was born. He had Elvish genes. I knew it. The day he came into his Inheritance, he acquired the power of the Elders. We need him on our side, or out of the war at least. Tom can't have him."

Rabastan didn't know what to think. He had never heard of that before. Sure, he knew that Cygnus was an Elf but he didn't know he was the last one. Little Cygni already had had a lot on his shoulders when he was born then. He had been kidnapped, taken away from his loving and doting parents for something he had had no power over, something he had not chosen.

There was a heavy silence. "Right."

The door opened and Rabastan was not surprised to see a frowning James Potter come in. "We're going to have a little bit of fun, Lestrange."

"Fun? I'm not sure we have the same definition of the word fun, Potter."

"I'm pretty sure we do actually. But what's about to happen is going to be fun for me, not for you."

"Right, makes sense. But you never know, I might be insane to the point where I enjoy pain." Rabastan smirked. He knew his cockiness would be the death of him someday.

"We'll just have to check that theory then." James then got to work, starting by summoning a whole table of weird-looking devices. Looked like he loved his Muggles to the point where he liked torturing his prisoners the muggle way. Rabastan gritted his teeth, mentally bracing himself for the pain that was to come.

He retrieved what Rabastan knew to be an adjustable wrench, one that looked incredibly heavy and was very long. James hit Rabastan's knee without any warning, almost catching Rabastan by surprise. He bit his lip to prevent any sound from leaving his mouth and started panting.

"Where is the boy?" Rabastan didn't even bother opening his mouth. "Not answering yet? Don't worry, you will." He broke Rabastan's other knee and then proceeded to rip his shirt open before taking hold of a whip.

Rabastan couldn't help but squirm slightly. He hated whips. He almost felt like he was back __there__ just by seeing the whip. He nearly whimpered when he felt the first blow, on his back, but held back. He wouldn't give Potter the pleasure of hearing him. Rabastan occupied himself with counting the blows.

__One.__

__Two.__

__Three.__

__Four.__

__Five.__

He lost count on the twentieth as he started to feel blood running down his back. "Decided to tell me what I want to know now?" Potter asked.

"Fuck you." He answered through gritted teeth before the whip hit him again. He was sure his back was in tatters now.

Potter then abandoned the whip. "How do you feel about drowning, Lestrange?" All color left Rabastan's face in a second. He hated water. __He__always used it and he hated it. More than anything. Maybe he shouldn't have been so cocky after all, he regretted his behavior now, slightly. Not that he would ever admit that aloud though. Nor would he betray Cygni and the Malfoys.

Before Rabastan could realize what was happening, he was lying on his back, on the dusty ground, his hands bound behind his ruined back. He could feel dust enter the wounds and mingle with his blood. James lay a damp cloth on Rabastan's face who started to panic, frantically thrashing around. Then came the water and Rabastan couldn't breathe. He felt like dying. His tears fell down his cheeks blending into the water.

James stopped, allowing Rabastan to breathe. "Do you feel like answering now?"

Rabastan spat in his face. That was all he could do after all. Then, the cloth was back on his face and he felt like dying. Again. He could have bet that dying wasn't as atrocious as __this__ was. James didn't stop. This man never knew when to stop. It went on and on and on. He poured water on Rabastan's face until he was on the verge of dying of asphyxiation, then asked if Rabastan was willing to answer and when Rabastan remained quiet, he would start again. This little game went on for what felt like hours.

"Water doesn't work then." James shook his head in disappointment. "Fire perhaps." He lifted up Rabastan, who was now too weak to even move a limb, he chained him to the wall and went to retrieve a torch that was hanging on the far wall, next to the door. "Do you like fire, Lestrange?"

Rabastan let his head fall in despair and weakly shook it. He was so tired. He just wanted to sleep but Potter wouldn't stop.

"Great. Let's try that then." He threateningly waved the torch horribly close to Rabastan's face. Even in his exhaustion, Rabastan could have sworn that if the torch would have been any closer, his skin would have melted away. But Potter seemed to change his mind because a second later, he felt warmth next to his chest before the fire came into contact with his skin.

For the first time in years, Rabastan screamed.

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	7. Chapter 7 - How To Save A Life

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__-1 Month Later-__

Lucius nearly jumped when Rodolphus appeared in the middle of the library. He really needed to spell some people out of the wards, just so that they could not come in without permission anymore. He heard Cygnus, who was laying on a couch and reading, yelp in surprise.

The teen had been allowed to come home after a week spent at St. Mungo's, with the promise to visit a healer once a week to talk about his years spent with the filthy muggles that had kept him. Cygnus had yet to tell Lucius and Narcissa about what had happened to him throughout those years though. Cygnus had warmed up to his family, Draco mostly. The two boys had been inseparable for the entirety of the break. So much so that Draco hadn't even visited his friends. The only one he had seen was Blaise Zabini who had visited three times, claiming that he needed help with his homework when in truth, he had spent his time talking and laughing with both Draco and Cygnus.

Lucius had been surprised when his youngest son had not minded Blaise's presence. Sure, the fifteen-year-old had shied away from him at first but then he had had fun. Lucius had been even more suprised when Cygnus had come and told him that he liked Blaise and that he wouldn't mind it that much if he and Draco were to get married. He had remained speechless for ten good minutes but then he had decided to ignore the matter altogether. Cygnus was way too young to realize what he was saying anyway.

Both Lucius and Narcissa had agreed with Draco's idea to never tell Cygnus that he had accidentally injured his brother. He did not need to know that he had hurt a member of his family. He hated himself enough as it was. Cygnus had taken to smiling more and more, so they did not want to ruin that by telling him that he had hurt Draco. Besides, Draco had been healed in a day so it hadn't been that big of a deal anyway.

Cygnus had also warmed up to Lucius and Narcissa but weirdly enough, the one he had more trouble bonding with was Narcissa. She tried to hide it but Lucius could see how much she was hurt. Cygnus had warmed up to magic and to him being an Elf as well, thanks to his sessions with Healer Devenstein. Both Lucius and Severus had taken to teaching Cygnus how to control his magic. His son was powerful and he learned fast, so much so that in a month he had almost reached the fifth year level. He only needed a week more before he could be sent to Hogwarts. Lucius had noticed that he had had a bit more trouble focusing since Draco had gone back to Hogwarts a week ago. His only motivation was that if he worked hard enough, he would be with his brother again.

The only problem Lucius had was that Cygnus kept asking for Rabastan. He did it often but fortunately, it looked like Rabastan had learned his lesson for he had never come to visit Cygnus again. Strangely enough, even though Cygnus didn't see Rabastan, he seemed to get more and more attached to the man by the day. Lucius was annoyed.

"Have you seen Rabastan?" Rodolphus asked Lucius before going to kiss the top of Cygni's hair in greetings.

Lucius saw in son perk up fron his book upon hearing Rabastan's name. "No, why would I?"

"I don't know. I've been asking everyone and you're my last hope, Lucius. I know that he sleeps around a lot." Cygnus's face fell at that which made Lucius frown. "But he's never been gone for more than a week and it's been a month."

"I have no idea where he is. He... He has taken to avoiding Cygni lately so he has never visited."

Cygnus's eyes watered alarmingly fast and he quickly got up from the couch. "I'm going to my room." He nearly fled from the library.

Lucius winced, he had not wanted to make his son upset. Surely he could not care that much. "You should ask Cissy, perhaps she knows where he is." Lucius told Rodolphus. "She is somewhere on the second floor, good luck finding her." He smirked before disappearing between the shelves.

Rodolphus sighed softly and got out in the corridor to take the stairs to look for his sister-in-law. He got stopped when he reached the floor by a sad-looking Cygnus.

"Uncle Rod?" Cygnus called hesitantly, standing next to the stairs with his eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Mhm?" He slowly and carefully walked up to him. The teen would still get scared if someone moved too quickly.

"You really don't know where Rabi is?" Rodolphus mutely shook his head. "But he doesn't hate me, right?"

Rodolphus pulled him into a warm hug. "Of course he doesn't."

Cygnus's tears started to fall the moment he felt his uncle's arms wrap around him. Without even knowing why, a part of himself wished that it was Rabi's arms around him and not his uncle's. "Why didn't he come back then? I miss him."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to and I'm sure that he misses you too." He tried to somehow soothe his nephew.

Cygnus only cried harder and his shoulders shook violently with heartbreaking sobs. He himself didn't know why he was breaking down that way. "I want Rabi." He buried his head deeper into his uncle's chest and clung to his robes for dear life.

"I know." He petted Cygnus's hair soothingly. "I'll get him back and I promise you that you'll see him again." Rodolphus would still get amazed by the way Cygnus cared about his brother. Cygnus had told him that they only had spoken once, at night, and that Rab had left in the morning. He couldn't understand how Cygnus had managed to grow so attached to a man he had seen once whereas he still had trouble bonding with his own mother. Rodolphus was sure that there was a more likely explanation to the situation.

He quietly picked his nephew up and carried him to bed. The man stayed with the teen, comforting him until he had cried himself to sleep.

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Rabastan woke up from his restless and painful sleep. Potter had had __fun__ with him the day before, much like everyday really. But yesterday's torture session had been rather nasty. Rabastan had nearly ended up blind. He heard the door of his cell open in a slam. The sound echoed through his head, making it hurt even more. He felt like crying just by knowing that someone had come back to hurt him. He didn't even have the strength to lift his head up from the floor to check if it was Potter or Dumbledore. Strangely enough, he had come to wish that Dumbledore would be here more often. At least, when it was Dumbledore, there wasn't any pain.

The only thing that prevented him from giving up and wishing to die was Cygni.

"No more, please." He whimpered weakly.

Someone kneeled near his head and cradled it on their lap. "Rab? It's me, it's okay. You're safe."

Rabastan forced one eye open, only to meet his brother's dark brown gaze. A broken chuckle escaped his mouth, making his body hurt all over. He didn't even notice the tears of joy running down his cheeks. "I didn't- I didn't say anything." Rabastan's voice was weak and hoarse from all the screaming he had done over the previous month. "Tell Cygni I didn't say anything." His words were slurred together because of his exhaustion and his mucles wouldn't stop twitching from all the sessions spent suffering from the Cruciatus he had undergone. Rodolphus wondered how his brother had managed to not end up insane. He would have to ask him about that.

"You'll tell him yourself, okay?"

"Can't."

Rodolphus frowned. "Why can't you?"

Rabastan's eyes dropped close once again. "Can't...Lucius...mad...Cygni...love...hurt..." He mumbled before unconsciousness took over.

Rodolphus was at a loss here, he wouldn't have been able to answer his brother even if he had wanted to. He would have to ask Rab about that too or even Lucius but he doubted that Lucius would tell him the truth.

"Hurry up!" Sirius called from the door, Tom right behind him.

Rodolphus quickly broke the chains that were holding his brother down and gently scooped him up. He sent Sirius a grateful smile as he walked past him. He would never be able to thank Sirius enough for what he had done. They would never have been able to find Rabastan without him.

Rodolphus had been rather sceptical at first when Tom had told him, Bella and the Malfoys about Sirius's decision to switch sides. From what Rodolphus had known, Sirius had always been a Light Wizard and had always despised both Slytherins and the Dark Side. Then, Sirius had explained himself.

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Sirius was sitting on the windowsill in his room, thinking about the month that had passed. Overall, it had been a good month. He had had his family back, mostly anyway. He still had to talk to Reggie and there was the tiny little detail that some of his family members had died during his years with the Light. He had quickly bonded with his cousins, Narcissa and Bellatrix, who were already smitten with little Corvus. He had grown really close to Tom as well. The supposedly cold-hearted and selfish Dark Lord had been nothing but kind to him throughout the month, he had even helped him with taking care of Corvus occasionally. He had been nothing but supportive. Sirius thought back to the day he had revealed Corvus's existence to the Malfoys and the Lestranges.

__"Why would you want to switch sides? You've always been Light." Rodolphus spat.__

__"I've... realized things." Sirius mumbled, trying hard not to cower away. He was facing three Death Eaters, one soon-to-be Death Eater and one extremely supportive supporter of the Dark Side, them being Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy. Sure, they were supposed to be family but Sirius had heard things at school about the Blacks and the Malfoys that had taught him not to let his guard down when in their presence. Then, he remembered that it was Dumbledore who had taught him those things and he relaxed. Moreover, knowing that Tom -he had stopped calling him Voldemort the moment he had learned that the stranger he had spoken to when he had arrived at Riddle Manor was the Dark Lord- was on his side. It was somehow comforting knowing that the most powerful wizard ever was on his side.__

__"What things?" Lucius asked.__

__"Yeah, what things, __cousin__?" Bellatrix spat her last word as if the very idea of Sirius being a part of her family disgusted her.__

__"Just let him tell the story, would you?" Tom's tone left them no room to argue. Sirius could clearly see who the leader was here.__

__A small smile appeared on Sirius's mouth, grateful for Tom's intervention. "I just want to protect my son."__

__"Your what!?" Narcissa exclaimed but a sharp glare from Tom shut her up.__

__Sirius shrugged hopelessly, subconsciously taking a step back to be closer to the only person that was on his side for now. "I discovered I was pregnant some time ago so, obviously, I went to Dumbledore. I thought that he would help me but he told me we had to get rid of the baby, that I was supposed to fight and that the pregnancy would make me useless. We argued...hard, and then I ran to James." Tears began streaming down his face. "Both he and Lily told me I had to get rid of it, that Dumbledore was right, that he always was. Then, I went to Remus. I hoped that he would understand. But he said that it wasn't supposed to happen, that I wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant. He said I was an abomination." A broken sob escaped his lips. "I wanted to flee but I didn't know where to go. I didn't have any friends left and my family hated me. And I was scared." Sirius nearly jumped when he felt a hand on the small of his back but he found it somehow comforting. "So I went back to Dumbledore and I told him that I would get rid of it but only if I performed the spell myself. I put on a really strong glamour and I made the Order believe that I'd killed it. And it worked. But then, the baby was born and I couldn't hide it anymore. Dumbledore...he-" Sirius found that he was unable to keep talking.__

__"It's okay. You can do it." Tom whispered into his ear. So that was where the hand came from.__

__Sirius took a deep breath. "He threw the Killing Curse at my baby. But a house elf got in the way. Then I fled. I dropped Corvus off at Andromeda's. I had heard about what had happened to Cygnus." He looked at Narcissa. "I swear I didn't know it was him. I just knew that Dumbledore had taken a boy and had sent him to live with Lily's realtives for his own safety. I didn't know it was Cygnus. I went to bring him back to you but I found him in a really horrible state so I took him to St. Mungo's instead. And then I came here and-" He cut himself off when he felt two slender arms wrap around him. Narcissa.__

__"Oh, I'm so sorry. You should never have had to go through that."__

__Sirius nodded numbly and let Narcissa bury her face into his chest. Of course she would be the first to understand him. Cygnus had been taken away from her at a very young age after all, she knew the feeling.__

__"Let him go now." Tom's stern voice cut in. Naricissa obliged. "You should go upstairs and take a nap now." He told Sirius.__

__He shook his head as he turned to face Tom. "I can't. I have to go get Corvus back."__

__"And we'll go but __after__you've taken a nap. You're exhausted."__

Sirius was pulled out of his thoughts by Tom's calm voice. "Are you okay?"

Sirius turned to look at him and smiled. "Of course."

Tom leaned against the door frame. "Where's Corvus?"

"Sleeping." Sirius smiled sweetly. The way Tom always worried about his well-being and Corvus's whereabouts were endearing. "He barely does anything other than eat and sleep, you know. He's just a month old."

"I know, I just-" He was cut off by Corvus's cries coming from the en suite little room. The door connecting Sirius's and Corvus's was always open and Corvus only slept in his room for naps anyway. Sirius always kept him with him at night. "I'll get him." Tom said as Sirius made to get up from the windowsill." Sirius couldn't do anything other than smile.

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	8. Chapter 8 - Rain And Cinnamon

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Rodolphus startled awake when the door opened and three fair-haired Malfoys came in.

"Rabi!" Cygnus exclaimed happily. He made to run to the bed where an unconscious Rabastan laid but Lucius held him back.

Cygnus looked up at his father, a crestfallen look on his face while Lucius stared at Rabastan, an unreadable look on his face. Rodolphus decided right then and there that he had to demand answers from Lucius. He was way too cold to not be involved as he claimed to be.

"You can go lie down with Rab, Cygnus." Rodolphus said, it was early morning after all. Surely, the teen could use a little bit more sleep. "Just be careful, okay? Rab's still a little bit hurt." He met Lucius's murderous glare defiantly.

Cygnus nodded eagerly and wriggled out of his father's grip before slowly walking to Rab's bed. He kissed Rab's cheek. "I missed you, Rabi." He whispered before lying next to Rab, nearly flushed against his side but still careful to not worsen his injuries.

Rabastan had been unconscious since the day before, when Rodolphus, Sirius and Tom had gone to rescue him. Rodolphus had taken him to St. Mungo's right away but the healers had said that he had spent too much time being tortured and that it was better to let him heal by himself. The only thing they had healed had been Rab's punctured lungs.

"We need to talk." Rodolphus told Lucius sternly. "We'll be back in a moment." He told Narcissa who was frowning in confusion.

He gripped Lucius's arm and pulled him into the en suite bathroom. He cast a Silencing Charm around them just so that Cygnus wouldn't hear them along with Rabastan if he woke up while they were arguing. He didn't really care whether Narcissa heard them or not but he still wanted that conversation to remain between he and Lucius only.

"What did you tell Rabastan?"

"I might need a bit more indications about when. I have said a lot of things to your brother throughout his life." Lucius replied.

"Don't be cocky with me." Rodolphus spat. "You know what I'm talking about. What did you tell Rabastan about seeing your son?" Rodolphus would have never imagined that he would lose his temper so fast.

Lucius pursed his lips in annoyance. "I told him to stay away from Cygni."

"Why did you do that!?" Rodolphus didn't even notice that he was now yelling his lungs out.

Lucius's voice grew angrier but Rodolphus couldn't quite tell that he was yelling because __Malfoys didn't yell__ but he was on the verge of doing so. "Because your brother is a slut and I do not want him near my son."

"My brother is not a slut." His voice turned threateningly low. "And you have no right to decide who comes near your son and who doesn't. Not when they're not a threat at least. Rab wouldn't hurt Cygnus."

"How would you know? He could be using my son. The only thing he is capable of thinking about is sex. You're just in denial. I am sorry to break it to you but your brother is a slutty whore. He is __nothing__ but a whore. I-"

Rodolphus sent Lucius flying through the door before he could utter another word. The Malfoy Lord landed on his arse right next to his wife. Lucius was about to pull his wand out of his cane to hex Rodolphus back but Cygnus's voice stopped him. "Dad?" He called hesitantly, confused as to why his father had ended up on the floor.

Lucius huffed in annoyance, got up from the floor and straightened his robes. "We are leaving."

"But I want to stay with Rabi." Cygnus protested weakly.

"We are leaving." Lucius exclaimed angrily, making his son flinch hard and bury himself further into Rabastan's side, seeking his warmth for comfort.

"Lucius Abraxas Malfoy!" Narcissa scolded. "You will stop making a scene this instant! We are leaving and Cygni is staying. We will come back later once you are calm." She walked to her son and kissed his forehead. "You take care of Rabi, sweetheart." She told him softly. Cygnus nodded slightly and smiled gratefully at her. "Tell Bella that Tom is expecting her in an hour." She told Rodolphus.

"He's expecting her?" Rodolphus frowned as he sat back on the leathered chair he had slept in earlier. He didn't know that his wife was expected.

"Tom and Sirius are going to investigate on Peter's whereabouts this afternoon. They need someone to take care of Corvus until tonight."

Right, the traitor. That theory hadn't been checked but Rodolphus was sure that Peter was the traitor. He hoped that they would make him suffer. "Right. She'll be here shortly. I'll make sure to tell her." Narcissa smiled in reply and dragged her husband out of the room but not before Lucius managed to throw a glare Rodolphus's way. The blonde-haired man was in for a thorough scolding once they were back home. Rodolphus smirked. He leaned back against the chair and felt slightly uncomfortable upon hearing Cygnus muttering sweet nothings to Rab.

"I'm glad you're back, you know. I missed you a lot and Dad said that you were avoiding me so I was sad. But you're back now." He was silent for a moment. "I'll find the ones who hurt you and I'll hurt them, okay?" The boy surely was a protective one. "And I'm sure Uncle Rod would want to help." He didn't know how right he was. "He helped me, you know. He stayed with me when I was sad because you were gone. I was worried, you know. Really, really worried. Besides, I don't like it when you're hurt. When you hurt, I hurt too."

Rodolphus stared at Cygnus for a long time, trying to understand his last sentence but then he saw the most suprising thing he ever had. Cygnus's tiny and graceful hands went from wound to wound while a really faint glow came out of them. Wound after wound, they all slowly healed. Cygnus must have not noticed what he had done because he gasped when he realized that Rabastan was now completely healthy. A pain-filled moan escaped Rab's lips as he slowly opened his eyes.

Rodolphus slowly got up from his chair and watched in awe as Cygnus stared deep into Rab's dark blue eyes and as a small smile spread upon his brother's face, answering Cygnus's beaming grin.

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Fenrir groaned in annoyance as he saw Tom's patronus make its way toward him. He really didn't need Tom needing him right now. The full moon was tomorrow night and Fenrir had more important things to think about than Tom's little and petty problems.

The Order of the Phoenix had nearly killed his whole pack last week. The only ones left were his beta, Alec, and Fenrir himself, all because of that traitor of a wolf. __Remus__. He was supposed to be pack but in truth, he was nothing but a weak traitor. Fenrir damned the day he had turned him. The boy had only been five but Fenrir had hoped to save him from his abusive father. He had found the boy lying down in front of the front door of what he had supposed had been his home. He had been weak and suffering from heavy pneumonia. He had been on the verge of dying and so Fenrir had bitten him. Unfortunately, Fenrir hadn't been able to take the boy with him that night. He had promised to come back the next day but then he had been forced to flee the country with his pack. When Fenrir had come back, Remus had already had his brain washed by Dumbledore and his puppies who were slowly poisoning Remus with wolfsbane.

Fenrir growled low in his throat as he remembered the way Remus had murdered his pack members. All Fenrir wanted, was rip his head off. He shook his murderous tendencies aside and finally paid attention to the flying falcon. Apparently Tom needed him to come to the Manor and fast. Fenrir groaned once again, it was early morning for fuck's sake. What could Tom possibly need so early?

Fenrir sighed and hurried to his destination. He hated Apparating so he ran, leaving the den in the forest in Alec's care. It didn't take him long before reaching the Riddle Manor. With the full moon being a day away, he was faster than usual.

He froze as soon as he stepped foot into the Manor. Two scents were alarming him, he didn't know which way to head. Should he follow the scent that strangely smelt like another werewolf or should he follow the sweeter one, smelling like rain and cinnamon. It was irresistible. With his wolf so close to the surface, he could barely control himself and decided to head toward the sweeter scent, the werewolf could wait. He jogged up two flights of stairs and ended up in a small bedchamber and barely noticed that a shower was running. He slowly and carefully walked up to the bed where a month-old baby was slowly waking up. Fenrir's golden eyes met a pair of sleepy gray eyes as the baby boy made grabby hands for Fenrir. Before the werewolf could comprehend what he was doing, he gently picked the baby up and handled him with great care. He let the boy grab his huge finger and play with it while he inhaled deeply, relishing in the boy's scent. Rain and cinnamon. Fenrir could feel his werewolf purr in delight inside him. Every part of him were screaming one thing.

Mate.

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	9. Chapter 9 - Fury, Oh Fury

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Sirius cut off the shower and froze when he heard noises coming from the bedroom. "Tom? Is that you?" He called. He frowned when he got no answer and quickly wrapped the towel around his waist. He cursed himself inwardly when he remembered that he had left his wand on his nightstand.

He quickly rushed to the room, worried that something might be happening to his precious son and froze midstep when his eyes fell on the huge form of one Fenrir Greyback. He was holding his son in his arms. Corvus, oblivious to the danger he was in, was happily babbling to the werewolf, playing with his silver gray hair. Oh, sweet joy of innocence. Sirius's heart had trouble beating as he stared at the wolf's strong muscles that could crush Corvus in a heartbeat.

"Put him down." He ordered carefully. He wanted his voice to sound firm and authoritive but in truth it was shaking madly with fear.

Fenrir whirled around to face Sirius who tensed up when the wolf's golden eyes met his own. He nearly cried in despair when he caught sight of the wolf's fangs. He had been about to hurt his son, his sweet, innocent Corvus. Sirius glanced at his wand, resting on the nightstand, desperate to reach it and curse the werewolf until he was no more.

Fenrir must've caught sight of Sirius's longing glance toward his wand because he growled deeply in his throat and tightened his grip on Corvus. Sirius tightened his jaw as a weak sob escaped his lips. He just wanted to take his son away from that horrid wolf. "Just please, let him go. Please." Oh, how much he wished Tom was here.

Sirius unconsciously took a step forward which obviously was the wrong move because in a second, Fenrir had grabbed Sirius's wand and had him flying into the corridor.

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Tom was in the middle of a meeting with some of his Outer Circle members, being bored out of his mind and wishing that he could be playing silly games with little Corvus and maybe spending some quality time with Sirius as well, when he felt magic inside the Manor.

Someone had used their wand. There wasn't supposed to be any wand using inside the Manor, the only one allowed to use magic inside his Manor was himself and maybe Sirius, occasionally, since he was leaving here now. But Sirius had no need to use magic inside the Manor anyway.

Tom ignored one of his followers who was talking about something irrelevant as usual and rushed to where the magic was coming from. He would never admit it, but he ran, really ran. He was worried, perhaps someone had gotten into the Manor without him realizing, he had been caught up in a daydream after all. He could get really distracted when he started thinking about little Corvus. And Sirius. His panic increased when he realized that the magic was leading him toward Sirius and Corvus's rooms.

He froze in the corridor when he saw Sirius on the floor. He had been hexed then. He hurried to give Sirius a helping hand. "Are you okay?"

"H-He..doesn't...H-He.." Sirius stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence due to his worried sobs.

Tom frowned. He had never seen the man in such a state before. Sure, he had only known him for a month but still. Something drastic must have happened. Tom's heart clenched when he realized that it probably involved Corvus.

Tom pulled out his wand and entered the bedroom where he found a crazed-looking Fenrir, holding a little bundle. Corvus. He felt Sirius following him closely and cling to the back of his robes. A weak whimper left Sirius's lips as he saw Fenrir, still holding his son, looking like he might murder anyone who stepped too close.

"Greyback? Put the child down, now. That's not what I asked you to come here for." Fenrir stubbornly shook his head. "Come on, Greyback we know that those rumors about you aren't true."

"No." Fenrir kept shaking his head as he stared down at Corvus. "Mine. Keep. Mate." He was so caught up in his staring that he couldn't even form a whole sentence but it was enough for Tom to understand. Sirius would freak out once he'd understand.

As if on cue, Tom felt Sirius tense up behind him. Realization probably hitting him square in the face. "Merlin, please tell me I heard it wrong." He muttered to himself. Tom winced. Sirius was about to blow up.

He let go of Tom's robes and stepped in front of him, facing Fenrir directly. "What did you just say, you beast?" His voice was threateningly low and dripping with venom.

Tom took hold of Sirius's arm, trying to keep him from doing anything stupid. He didn't want any blood to spill today, let alone Sirius's. He was sure that Fenrir wouldn't hurt Corvus but he would gladly kill Sirius if he felt that he was a threat to his mate.

"Mine." Fenrir spat as he tightened his hold of Corvus a tad too much, causing the little boy to whimper. Fenrir's eyes cleared and widened as he realized that he had caused pain to his mate.

"Give me my son back, you filthy beast." Sirius spat. Tom smirked, enjoying Sirius's fierce fury, he looked positively dangerous that way.

Fenrir began to shake, much to Tom's surprise. "I didn't mean to, I swear." He handed Corvus over to Sirius. Tom smiled fondly as he caught the little sigh of relief that passed Sirius's lips once he finally had his son back in his arms. He would not let him out of sight of weeks now, years even. "I would never..." Tom had never seen so much guilt on Fenrir's face before.

Guilt was literally eating him up.

"Is he okay?" Fenrir eventually asked as he tried to look his mate over for any injuries. He clearly felt uncomfortable with his mate being away from him but didn't dare to come closer.

"I don't want to see you near my son ever again. Never. If I see within a mile from him, I'll kill you. Am I understood?" Sirius's eyes shone with pure fury and hatred. Tom wouldn't want to be Fenrir right now.

"Sirius.." Tom protested weakly at the man willing to go to such measures.

"What? Oh, so you're on his side now?" He spat at Tom.

Tom winced. "I never-"

"I don't care! Just stop talking. Your voice makes me even angrier. I don't want Corvus to be near you. Neither of you."

Sirius fled from the room before Tom could open his mouth and defend himself. Looked like he was a cold case.

He sighed. "I hate you, Greyback. I hate you so much right now."

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All Tom wanted to do after that was run after Sirius and apologize but Dark Lords never apologized so he would never do so.

Who was he kidding? He would take care of the matter that had needed Fenrir's presence and then he would run to wherever Sirius was and beg him to forgive him. That was how much power the man had over him. Damn him and his irresistible gray eyes.

Tom quickly led a still shaken Fenrir Greyback to his dungeons where he explained him the matter at hands. Two of his Death Eaters had found a newly turned and rogue werewolf whose identity still remained unknown for no one had managed to get him to talk. Tom hoped that Fenrir would manage to do so. He left the Alpha to work on his own and got to work himself. He needed to find Sirius.

He searched the Manor from basement to attic only to end up empty handed. He crossed path with Bella in the second floor's corridors but didn't leave her time to utter a word. She could wait. He ended up in the gardens and was on the verge of giving up when he found him. He was sitting on the grass, under a tree, talking to Corvus who was hanging on his father's every word even though he couldn't understand.

"Are you mad?" Tom asked as he stopped next to Sirius. His only reply was Corvus's meaningless babbling. Tom sighed and dropped down next to the man. "You're mad." Sirius didn't even look at him which was utterly frustrating. "Talk to me, please."

"What do you want me to say?" Sirius spat. "That I hate you? Alright, I hate you. Now leave me alone. I'd like to spend time with my son."

Tom sighed once again and closed his eyes as he felt his heart clench slightly. "Fine. I deserved that. But I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to upset you." Sirius finally looked at Tom, urging him to keep going. "I wasn't taking Greyback's side, I just didn't want you to be hurt."

Sirius's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Of course."

Sirius sighed. "Right. I'm sorry. For making a scene." He smiled sheepishly. "I just thought-" He shrugged helplessly. "I was just scared and so angry. He mated to my son, my one-month-old little boy. I just went through too much for Greyback to take him away from me." He sighed again and let his head fall onto Tom's shoulder.

Tom waited patiently, knowing that Sirius would keep talking if he needed to. "I shouldn't have gotten pregnant, you know." There it was. He needed to talk. "I wish it never happened. I love Corvus more than anything but I wish it never happened. Not that way." Tom saw Sirius's eyes fill with tears as he looked down at his son who was happily playing with his father's fingers. "I went to the Potters' one evening, much like every evening really. I just wanted to have a good time with James, I thought he was my best mate. But when I arrived, James was already drunk." Tom already knew what was coming and braced himself for it. "I thought nothing of it, I had already seen James drunk before. But then he started acting all weird and Lily was not home but I should have known and... I didn't want to." Silent tears made their way down Sirius's cheeks. "He forced me and I didn't want to. I never told anyone, I wanted to forget. And then I was pregnant and I wanted to get rid of Corvus at first. I hated him, you know. Because he was __his__." Sirius sobbed. "But he's my son, I love him. I never told James that the baby was his, not even when I went to him after Dumbledore told me to get rid of it. I didn't want him to know that he was his. I don't want Corvus to be his."

Sirius sobbed loudly onto Tom's shoulder, soaking his robes with tears. Tom felt fury boil in the pit of his stomach. James Potter would suffer. Who did he think he was for doing such a thing, hurting a loving and loyal man such as Sirius that way? He deserved to die a slow and painful death.

"Sirius, look at me." Tom said. The man slowly lifted his head up from Tom's shoulder, tears still running down his cheeks. His chin was trembling furiously as he tried to keep his sobs inside. He cupped Sirius's face with his hands. "What happened was not your fault. None of it was your fault. I'll make him suffer for what he's done to you, okay?" Sirius nodded slightly. "I know it's hard but you have to be strong now, for Corvus." He quickly glanced at the little baby who was beginning to get upset by his father's cries. "He needs you now. And I'm here for you. Whenever you need me, I'll be there, okay?" Tom smiled slightly.

Sirius nodded. "Thanks." He chuckled wetly when he heard Corvus babble as he gripped his father's hair, trying to comfort him in his own way.

Tom wipped Sirius's cheek with his thumbs and kissed his forehead. He vowed to avenge this man, he would do whatever it takes to mend the man's shattered and suffering heart.

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	10. Chapter 10 - Run Boy, Run

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Cygnus stared into Rabastan's eyes as they opened. His panic disappeared as soon as his icy blue eyes met Rabi's dark blue ones. All that mattered now was that Rabi was finally awake and with him.

"Hey little one." Rabi whispered. His voice was hoarse as if he had spent days screaming.

"Where were you!?" Cygnus scolded Rabi, frowning deeply as his worry came back full force.

Rabi chuckled weakly which, weirdly enough, made Cygnus want to hit him. "I missed you too, little one."

"Here." Rodolphus said as he walked to Rabi, a glass of water in hand. Cygnus had nearly forgotten that his uncle had been here all along.

Rabi drank slowly, Cygnus hanging on his every movement, and let his head drop back on the pillow. He then looked himself over, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline when he noticed that he was clear of any injury. "Am I not supposed to be in a bad shape? Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

Cygnus sheepishly looked down at his hands. He didn't know whether he should tell Rabi that he had healed him or not. He didn't want to look vain and full of himself.

"Cygni healed you." Rodolphus answered, cutting Cygnus's musings off. "How did you do that by the way?" He asked Cygnus.

Cygnus shrugged, eyes still fixed on his hands. He didn't want them to think that he was a freak. He had understood that being able to do magic was not freakish. He had understood that being an Elf was not freakish. All thanks to his family. But from what he had gathered, people weren't supposed to heal other people, not without a wand at least. That could only mean that he was a freak, right? "I don't know." He muttered under his breath. He wanted to avoid his uncle throwing him out. He didn't want to be away from Rabi. He had been away from him for a month already, he didn't want to leave him anymore. Never again.

"Thank you." He heard Rabi say. His head snapped up to look at him in shock. He nearly gasped in surprise when he caught sight of Rabi's silly grin. "I'm glad you did it, Cygni. Stop beating yourself up."

"How did you-"

"S'not hard to guess. Could read it all over your face." Rabi cut him off. He pushed himself up and kissed Cygnus's temple, making him blush like mad. "Thank you." He said once again.

Cygnus smiled, his blush quickly spreading down to his neck. Rabi's eyes were shining with mirth which made Cygnus flush even more. He felt like he would die any moment from embarrassment. He wished he could disappear into the bedclothes.

"Are you feeling up to walking?" Rodolphus asked Rabi out of the blue.

"I think so." Rabi answered, narrowing his eyes. "I feel great."

"Let's go for a walk then. We need to talk."

Cygnus frowned. Why would his uncle need to talk to Rabi alone? Couldn't he talk while he was here? "Wait for me, okay?" Rabi told Cygnus.

Cygnus nodded mutely as Rabi slowly got out of bed. He was only wearing an hospital gown but didn't seem to mind it. But Cygnus saw it and blushed as he noticed that he had stared. Luckily, both Rabi and his uncle had left the room before they could notice the deep flush on Cygnus's face.

He obediently remained in the bed. He lied down and pulled the covers over him, feeling cold without Rabi against him, his body warmth warming up the entire bed. He hugged the pillow to his chest and breathed in Rabi's sweet scent. It smelt like a sunny winter morning. It smelt fresh with a hint of mint. Typically Rabi and he loved it. Cygnus wanted to know why Rabi always smelt like mint though. He would remember to ask Rabi later on.

He felt full and complete with Rabi back, he didn't really understand it but his heart felt full and the ache was gone which he was grateful for. Cygnus wanted to wait for Rabi to come back but his eyelids were growing heavy and he was asleep before he could even fight it.

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__Cygnus woke up in the middle of a street. How did he end up here? He was sure that he had fallen asleep in Rabi's hospital bed. He could have sworn he did. Why was he lying in the middle of a road? He sat up, a traffic light was hanging above his head, but it kept changing colors, going back and forth from red to green in a couple of seconds.__

__He looked around and noticed that he was in Little Whinging. He could see the Dursleys' house from where he was. He didn't want to be back here, he was supposed to have his family. Did they abandon him again? Surely Rabi wouldn't have let them do that, right? He quickly got to his feet when he noticed the front door of the Dursleys' home open, revealing a whale of a man.__

__No, no, no, that was not supposed to happen.__

__Vernon's gaze fell on Cygnus and he quickly walked toward him, his face red with anger and his eyes twinkling with a mad glint. Cygnus's heart stopped beating when he realized that Vernon was going to hurt him. He wanted to flee but his feet were glued to the ground. He was paralyzed with fear.__

_"___Finally decided to come back, boy?" Vernon's voice snapped Cygnus out of his trance. He began to run away from the man, moving just in time to avoid Vernon's huge hand grabbing his arm. "Come back here, you freak!" Vernon yelled from behind Cygnus.__

__He ran as fast as he could. He wanted to be back at the hospital. He wanted to be back home with his mum and his dad. He wanted Rabi to be here. He wanted Rabi to be here to protect him. Cygnus kept running even as tears started blinding him, praying that he would wake up and see Rabi come back into the room with his uncle, his real uncle.__

__Cygnus ran even as his lungs started to burn and his legs started to hurt. He went through endless streets, he didn't even know where he was going. He had never been allowed to go out when he was living with the Dursleys. They didn't want him to infect other people with his freakishness so they had kept him locked up in the house all this time. It made sense that Cygnus was unable to recognize any streets.__

__Cygnus was beginning to tire so he looked back, to check whether Vernon was still following him or not. He nearly tripped when he saw the man running after him, only a couple of inches separating them.__

__A broken sob escaped Cygnus's lips when he felt Vernon's body collide with his back. He fell forward, landing hard on his hip. Cygnus heard a bone snap and he cried out in pain.__

_"___Crying already?" Vernon said as he pushed Cygnus on his back, hovering over him threateningly. "We haven't even started yet." A wicked smirk made his way onto his lips.__

_"___Please." Cygnus whimpered as he tried to fight the man back.__

_"___I told you that you're mine. You can't get away from me. I'll always find you." Vernon licked Cygnus's tears away. The mere thought of that whale's tongue on his skin made Cygnus sick to his stomach. "No one can save you, not even that Rabastan of yours. You're all mine."__

__Cygnus cries doubled. He knew about Rabi. He wasn't supposed to know. Cygnus tried to push Vernon away as he started to unbuckle his pants but the man was too heavy. "What do you think he'll say once he's aware of how filthy you are? How filthy I've made you? How I used you for years?" Vernon chuckled darkly.__

_"___Please, stop." Cygnus whimpered, his struggles never ceasing as he felt Vernon take his pants off, leaving Cygnus naked from waist to toe.__

_"___He'll never want you. You're all mine." He whispered into the teen's ear.__

__Cygnus managed to kick the whale's crotch and quickly got to his feet. He was back to running. Never paying attention to the fact that he was half naked. All he cared about was escaping.__

__He ran and ran and ran until he collided with something hard. A chest. He whimpered, thinking that it probably was one of those men Vernon brought home to __have fun__with Cygnus for an hour or two. He was surprised when he felt strong arms wrap around his waist, preventing him from falling back down on the hard ground. He looked up just in time to see dark blue eyes smiling down at him.__

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	11. Chapter 11 - Blow A Kiss

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Rabastan threw a last glance Cygnus's way before closing the door. Once in the corridor, he remembered that he was only wearing his hospital gown which made him slightly self-conscious. Though, those thoughts were quickly pushed aside, replaced by endless questions. Mostly about his brother's reasons for wanting to talk to him alone. What could be so important for Rod to not wait and to keep it secret from Cygni?

Rabastan couldn't describe how happy he had been when he had opened his eyes and had met Cygni's icy blue ones. Relief had flooded his heart. He had missed Cygni a lot during his time being Potter's plaything. He had been even more touched when Rod had told him that Cygni had been the one to heal him. It meant that Cygni liked him enough to care. Perhaps he had gotten attached to him as much as Rabastan had gotten attached to Cygni.

"Come on, talk already." Rabastan said as he followed his brother through the hospital.

"You and Cygnus are rather close, don't you think?" Rod asked when he stopped in a desert corridor.

Rabastan shrugged. "I suppose so." He didn't know where his brother was going with this but he wasn't sure that he wanted him to keep going.

"That was rather fast, right?"

Rabastan definitely didn't want him to keep going now. "Stop beating around the bush and talk."

Rod crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "I know quite a few things about Elves."

Rabastan's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "How? We never learned about them at Hogwarts."

"I was curious about them in seventh year. I had heard Father talk about them, about how they were all gone, extinguished. So I decided to do some research." He leaned against the wall. "Elves were powerful, extremely powerful but they were peaceful beings. They never took part in any war. The only time they fought had been when their forest was attacked. They used their powers only on their trees, partner and children. See? Peaceful. The only thing they cared about was their own race and their family." Rod cleared his throat. "Wizards who are born with Elvish genes come into their Inheritance when they reach the age of fifteen. There are two types of Elves: Dominant and Submissive. Dominant Elves tend to be strong, short-tempered and extremely protective of their Forest, Submissive and Elflings. But we don't care about Dominants. Submissive Elves tend to be small and feminine in appearance. Submissives can be either male or female and in each case, they are carriers. They can bear children. Submissives are the most peaceful ones, compared to the Dominants who tend to be a bit more violent. The only time they can lose their temper is when their Elflings are in danger or if they think that their Dominant's life is at risk. They can become really fierce when their family is concerned." He paused. "Elves are born with a destined mate. Once they meet their mate, they grow close really fast and tend to hurt when they away from each other."

Rabastan nodded absentmindedly. "What are you saying?"

"What are you feeling, here?" He placed his hand over Rabastan's heart, which made the younger man frown. "What are you feeling when you think about Cygnus?"

Rabastan's heart skipped a beat. Did Rod see that maybe he cared too much. "H-He's fifteen." Rabastan protested weakly.

"Why does it matter? I didn't ask you how old Cygnus is, I asked you what you feel when you think about him." A small smile appeared on Rod's lips.

"I... I feel whole." Rabastan admitted.

"And what did you feel when you were away from him? Surely you've thought about him."

"When I was with Potter?" Rod nodded. "I-" Rabastan sighed. "It hurt. I felt like someone was driving nails into my heart."

"I knew it." Rod chuckled softly. "Have you ever asked yourself why you had grown so attached to Cygnus in such a short time?"

Rabastan was silent for a moment. Surely Rod couldn't mean what he thought he meant. It wasn't possible, right? Cygnus was barely fifteen while Rabastan was thirteen years older. It was wrong, so wrong. Surely Rod had misread the signs, he just couldn't be right. Besides, Rabastan would be dead before he could even utter a word if Lucius ever heard of Rod's theory. "Are you saying that-?" Rabastan couldn't even finish his sentence.

Rod nodded, a fond smile on his lips. "It wasn't hard to figure out. You're his mate."

Rabastan's jaw dropped in shock and his eyes widened. Hearing Rod saying it made it all the more real. He stubbornly shook his head, refusing to believe what his brother was telling him. It shouldn't be happening. Cygni was only fifteen. He probably wasn't even attracted to Rabastan, and surely would never be. And here Rabastan was, taking every choice away from Cygni, forcing him to spend his life with someone he would never love. He had ruined his life.

"Stop that." Rod exclaimed as tears began to gather in Rabastan's eyes. "You didn't even speak to him yet so stop jumping to stupid conclusions. But now that you're aware of that, you need to give him time. He didn't even know that magic existed a month ago so perhaps it would be a bit too much to tell him that you're his mate. Maybe you should just tell him about Elves and give him time to draw his own conclusions." Rod smiled softly. "But I'm sure that, with time, everything will be fine. You're a great person, Rab." He kissed Rabastan's forehead which made him wrinkle his nose in annoyance.

"Thanks." Rabastan mumbled, a small smile on his lips. He felt like he was eleven years old again and he needed his big brother to comfort him when some boys from Hogwarts were being mean to him.

"Anytime. You should go back to Cygnus, he might feel lonely. I need to meet with Regulus anyway."

"Wait, do you know where the Elvish genes come from? I heard Dumbledore say that he was the last one so I was wondering." Rabastan said before his brother walked away.

"It comes from the Blacks. How do you think Sirius managed to have Corvus?" Rod left with a smug smirk on his face.

Rabastan frowned in confusion. Did that mean that Sirius was an Elf as well? No, he couildn't be. Recessive genes probably.

Rabastan quickly made his way back to his room, eager to see Cygni again, his mate. His __mate__. __His__ mate. His own, all to himself. They were destined to be together. He would get to spend the rest of his life with Cygni. His whole being filled with warmth and happiness. He entered the room, a silly grin on his face.

However, he stopped dead in his tracks, his heart stopping when he caught sight of the state Cygni was in. The fifteen-year-old was asleep, thrashing around in the bed. The bedclothes had fell to the floor while the pillow was on the verge of doing so. Cygnus looked like he was trying to fight someone back. His face was tear-stained and small whimpers were escaping his lips.

Rabastan hurried to Cygni's side, wanting to make the nightmare go away. He touched the boy's forehead, trying to soothe him somehow. As soon as Rabastan's hand came in contact with Cygni's forehead, his struggles ceased and he sighed in relief as he leaned into the touch. Rabastan smiled fondly. Any doubts left him in a second. He couldn't deny that he was Cygni's mate now. No normal people would react that way to a simple touch.

Rabastan moved his hand to Cygni's hair, running it through it to keep the nightmares from coming back. It didn't take long for Cygni to open his beautiful blue eyes. He smiled brightly which made Rabastan's heart melt.

"I had a nightmare." Cygni mumbled once he'd sobbered up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Rabastan suggested, he couldn't stand that frown on Cygni's lips, he just wanted to see him smile. Cygni shook his head though. "Alright. But you can talk to me anytime, whenever you feel you need to talk, okay?"

Cygni nodded and smiled once again. He seemed to think about something for a second before talking. "You were there." He whispered as if he was afraid that someone would eavesdrop. "Someone was chasing me and you were there. You kept me safe."

Rabastan kissed Cygni's temple. Now that he knew that they were mates, he couldn't stay away from him. He needed to touch Cygni somehow. He didn't feel like touching him sexually yet, it was just simple touches. Rabastan felt like Cygni was way too young to even consider anything that involved something sexual.

"I'll always keep you safe."

Cygnus replied with the brightest smile he had ever seen which made Rabastan want to kiss it away.

The door opened, preventing Rabastan from mentally beating himself up. He cursed when Lucius entered. "Your mother told me to come pick you up." He told Cygni, ignoring Rabastan completely which he kind of was grateful for. He didn't want to suffer Lucius's wrath.

"Already?" Cygni asked softly, probably afraid to anger his father once again.

"Yes, already." Lucius replied sternly. Rabastan was taken with the urge to hit Lucius. He had no right to talk to Cygni that way.

"Okay." Cygni sighed and kissed Rabastan's cheek. "See you soon, okay?" Rabastan nodded. He didn't want Cygni to go yet but he knew that he had no choice but to let him go. He would probably be out of St. Mungo's in a couple of hours anyway so he would get to see Cygni again really soon.

Cygni followed Lucius out of the room but blowed Rabastan a kiss before closing the door. Rabastan lied down on the bed, breathing Cygni's scent which he had left on the pillow. Lavender and vanilla. Such a sweet combination. It was irressitible. He stared at the ceiling, a dreamy smile on his face. He had a mate.

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Sirius glared at Tom who was laughing his arse off as he put Corvus back in his cot for his nap. He had just fed his son after they had come back home from their little quest which goal was to know where Peter Pettigrew's loyalties really lay. They hadn't learnt much but it was a start. They had caught him talking to himself not far from Riddle Manor while he was on his way there. He was complaining about Severus's constant bitter and cold attitude. He was complaining about the fact that the Potions Master seemed to hate him while Peter did everything to be likeable. It wasn't much but it could mean that Peter had a reason to spy for the Light.

Sirius froze mentally. When had he started to refer to Riddle Manor as __home__? It wasn't home...yet. Sirius wouldn't mind calling it home, he didn't have a home anymore anyway. He and Corvus weren't safe enough at Grimmauld Place. The only safe place now was Riddle Manor. And Corvus would need somewhere safe to grow up in. Until the war was over at least.

"It's not funny!" Sirius protested as he tried wash away the milk that Corvus had somehow managed to spit out on him. Tom kept laughing. "It's not funny, okay?" Sirius said, a small frown on his face as he put his hand over Tom's laugh to stop his hysterical laughter.

"I'm sorry but it is." Tom said. His laughter had subsided to small chuckles but Sirius could clearly see that the only thing he wanted was to laugh until he was rolling on the floor. "You've got some in your hair."

Sirius sighed in annoyance and then he got an idea. He wanted revenge. He took a couple of steps back and spilled the remainder of Corvus's milk onto Tom's hair who froze in shock.

"You didn't just do that?" He hissed through gritted teeth as he glared daggers at Sirius.

"Looks like I did, Mr. Riddle." Sirius smirked before blowing Tom a kiss.

"I'm so going to get you for that." Sirius squealed, which he would never admit out loud, and ran from Corvus's room. Fortunately, the one-month-old boy didn't wake up throughout their little fight.

Sirius ran as if death itself was chasing him, laughing softly the entire time. He was about to take the stairs to the third floor when he felt an arm wrap itself around his waist and stopped him from running further. A little cry of surprise left his lips as Tom pulled him to the floor, Tom's body hovering over him.

"Got you." Tom smirked. "Say you're sorry."

Sirius chuckled. "I'd rather die."

"Wrong choice."

Then, Tom started to tickle Sirius. He felt like he was fifteen again, they were having fun like silly teenagers.

Sirius couldn't stop laughing. "Please, stop, stop, please. I'll do anything, please."

"Anything?"

"Yes, yes, please." He kept begging.

"Alright." Tom stopped his ministrations and stared at Sirius who was slowly calming down. "But, what if I don't want to stop?"

"No please, don't start again. I'm a thirty-seven-year-old, being tickled is really humiliating." Tom chuckled darkly. "No, no, no." And they were back at it again.

Next thing Sirius knew, the tickles stopped and he felt soft lips pressing softly against his own.

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	12. Chapter 12 - Fire A Gun

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Lucius looked at his son as he slept on the soft couch in the library. He was supposed to work on today's lessons but he had complained about being too tired and had promptly fell asleep.

"What happened this morning for him to be so tired?" Severus asked as he entered the library.

Lucius sighed. "We went to see Rabastan." He whispered, not wanting to wake his son up.

"How did it go?"

Lucius sneered. "Rodolphus decided to defend his brother and he fucking hexed me. Cissy let Cygnus stay with Rabastan when we left and I went to fetch him an hour later. They were both in bed." Lucius's lips curled up in disgust.

"All dressed up?" Severus asked.

"What? Obviously all dressed up."

"Then why are you complaining? Rabastan has not deflowered your precious swan yet." Severus smirked.

"What do you mean by __yet__!? He hissed. Surely he had misheard.

"Rodolphus came to see Reggie not long before lunch. They talked, I heard. You should ask Rodolphus. You might find what he had to say interesting."

"Explain yourself." Lucius demanded. Severus had no right to hide things from him, let alone when it involved his son's sexuality.

"It is not my place to tell, I am afraid. But you should read about Elves." Severus smirked. "Well, if you do not need me, I will be going. I am not comfortable with leaving Reggie alone for too long."

Lucius snorted. "He is barely two months pregnant."

Severus shrugged one shoulder as he walked away. "Remember, read about Elves."

Lucius went back to watching his son after that, musing about the things Severus had just said. He really hoped he had misunderstood, for Rabastan's sake. Because if Rabastan was indeed planning on ravishing his little swan, he would meet his end very soon. Cygnus was too young to be with anyone, let alone a heartbreaker such as Rabastan was. He had seen some of Rabastan's numerous conquests and they had all been left crying, both men and women. Though he had taken to sleeping with men more lately. Besides, if it was up to Lucius, Cygnus wouldn't be touched or courted until he was at least thirty-five.

As he stared at Cygnus's sleeping form, he could not help but think about the last time he had seen him sleeping, when he was nothing but a baby.

__Lucius entered the playroom to retrieve his youngest son. He knew both his sons were playing there but it was time for Cygnus to sleep. Tripi, their House Elf, would put Draco to sleep a little later while he and Narcissa were away on dinner.__

__Both boys were sitting on the carpeted floor, playing with their stuffed animals. Cygnus was making his stuffed snake slyther on the floor while Draco acted like his stuffed dragon was protecting the stuffed snake from their enemies.__

__Draco let himself fall back on the floor. "Ah! They got me, I'm hurt. Run little snake. Stay safe." He exclaimed as he made his dragon writhe in pain on the floor. Cygnus giggled and clutched his black snake to his chest.__

__Draco blushed slightly when he caught sight of Lucius standing by the door. "You came to play with us, Daddy?"__

"__Da!" Cygnus exclaimed as he clapped his hands excitedly.__

__Lucius chuckled. "I'm afraid not, my little Dragon. It's time for Cygni to go to bed."__

__Draco pouted. "Oh. But I wanna play still."__

"__You can play a little more but your brother is going to sleep. He's still little and he needs his sleep." Lucius's statement was met by a huge yawn from Cygnus who rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Come on, little one." He picked Cygnus up.__

__His youngest son pouted and started to whine. "Dway." He said, making grabby hands for his big brother, his stuffed snake still clutched to his chest. His whinning turned to full crying as Lucius walked out of the room.__

"__Da. Dway." Cygnus sobbed.__

"__It's time to sleep, little one. You'll play with Draco tomorrow." He tried to soothe his son the best he could.__

__Cygnus's sobs stopped immediately. "Ma?" He looked up at Lucius, hope shinning in his sleepy blue eyes.__

"__Yes, Mummy is going to come kiss you goodnight." Lucius smiled fondly.__

__Narcissa was already in Cyngus's room when Lucius reached it. Cygnus was already drifting off on Lucius's shoulder so Narcissa wordlessly took him from her husband and settled him down in his crib, lovingly kissing his forehead.__

__She wipped the remaining tears off his cheeks. "Did he put up a fight?" She whispered.__

"__Not much. He just didn't want to leave Draco and Draco didn't want to let him leave. Nothing unusual. But he calmed down really fast." Lucius smiled fondly as he looked down at their sleeping son. "Wait until Tripi tells Draco that he is not going to sleep with Cygni tonight. __He__is going to put up a fight."__

"__Right. But we can't let him have his way tonight. We have to wake him early tomorrow and Cygnus is going to be really fussy if he doesn't wake up by himself." Narcissa said as they walked toward the playroom, wanting to kiss Draco goodnight before leaving.__

__Draco was still playing with his stuffed dragon but was way less cheerful than when he played with his little brother. "Raaaaaaawwwww. They took him. Raw. They took the little snake. The bad trolls took him. Raaaaawwwww."__

"__Are we supposed to be the trolls?" Lucius asked playfully.__

__Draco jumped and yelped in surpise. "No." He mumbled, a blush spreading on his cheeks.__

__Narcissa laughed warmly at her son's antics. It was a soft and warm laugh that always reminded Lucius why he loved her so much. "You know he had to sleep."__

"__I know." Draco pouted as he lifted his arms up, demanding to be picked up and Narcissa gladly complied. "But he's my baby brother and I wanted to play with him more. We were having fun."__

"__You'll have fun tomorrow. Now kiss your mother goodnight." Lucius said.__

__Draco kissed his Mummy's cheek before doing the same with his father. "Be a good boy for Tripi, okay?" Narcissa said before they left the playroom. Draco nodded absentmindedly as he resumed playing with his stuffed dragon.__

Lucius was pulled out of his musings by his wife's gentle voice. "What are you thinking about?" She asked as she wrapped her slender arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Nothing much. Just the past." Lucius replied as he turned around and kissed his wife.

Narcissa smiled. "Amycus is downstairs. He said he wanted to speak to you, he said it was urgent." She kissed her husband's cheek. "I'll just put Cygnus to bed."

"Alright." He kissed her once again and hurried downstairs. What surprised Lucius was not that he found him in the sitting room, it was the look on his face, he looked dead serious as though someone had just died.

"What happened?" Lucius asked, frowning deeply.

"Have you gone to the Ministry lately?"

"Not since we got Cygnus back. They can work without me. Why?"

"You didn't sign any paper then?"

Amycus was making Lucius more and more nervous with his questions. He did not know where he was going with it but he was not sure he wanted to know either. "Of course not. What is it?"

"It doesn't make sense. It shouldn't be happening. It can't. They can't." He mumbled to himself.

"Amycus, talk to me." Lucius said sternly. If Amycus didn't talk soon, he would start freaking out as well and __Malfoys did not freak out__.

"I've got new students." Amycus simply said.

Lucius was speechless for a moment. He didn't see how that was a problem. "Well, that is great?"

"No, that's not great, okay? You're the Minister for Magic, you're supposed to be the one to sign papers, you're the one supposed to approve of any new student, any transfer, anything. That's how it works. You didn't approve anything. But here, I have a paper from the Ministry telling me that I have no other choice but to accept those new students so no, that's not great." Amycus hissed, his eyes wide. He was clearly freaking out.

"Just calm down, would you? Let me see the paper." Amycus took a deep breath and complied, handing the paper over to Lucius.

__Dear Headmaster Carrow,__

__Due to some recent and rather unfortunate events, we came to notice that some students who should be attending Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are currently not attending school. So, after long and hard debates, we came to the conclusion that they needed to attend the school in order to not harm anyone. They need to learn how to control their magic. As Headmaster, it is your duty to accept and welcome those young wizards and witches. Here is a list of the students who will attend classes from this morning on:__

__Lanvender Brown – seventh year__

__Seamus Finnigan – seventh year__

__Hermione Granger – seventh year__

__Neville Longbottom – seventh year__

__Padma Patil – seventh year__

__Parvati Patil – seventh year__

__Daniel Potter – seventh year__

__Dean Thomas – seventh year__

__Ronald Weasley – seventh year__

__Luna Lovegood – fifth year__

__Ginevra Weasley – fifth year__

__They will be arriving at eight o'clock. Thank you for your understanding and we are sorry for the inconvenience.__

__Sincerely,__

__The Minstry of Magic.__

"Who wrote that?" Lucius asked after he recovered from his shock. "I never approved of that."

"That's why I came here. I thought you'd lost your mind." Amycus sighed, defeatedly.

"Not yet, thank you very much. I would never allow such a thing. Dumbledore must be involved. I do not know how he did it but he managed to get his little pawns into the school." Lucius sighed. "I will investigate. Just make their little lives hell for me. I do not care they are children, they are here to hurt ours and to spy."

Amycus nodded. "I'll let you tell Tom, I need to go back to the school."

*****CM*RL*****

"He's gone." Albus heard James say as he came crashing through the door.

He frowned. "Who are you talking about, my boy?"

"Lestrange, he's gone."

Albus stood up at once. "How come he's gone?" He exclaimed in surprise.

"I don't know, Albus. I was going to try and make him talk but when I arrived in the cell, it was empty."

"He cannot be gone. No one knew he was here." He couldn't believe the Lestrange boy was gone. He wasn't smart and strong enough to escape.

"But he is!" James yelled in frustration.

Albus needed to think. Someone must have helped him out, but who? Death Eaters were out, they didn't even know about that house, they couldn't have come Weasleys were out, they wouldn't betray him. Yet, not all Weasleys were that faithful. The older ones, William and Charlie had caused quite the commotion lately. They had disagreed to search for Cygnus Malfoy. They had claimed that they were against abducting children and they had promptly left, right in the middle of the meeting. Maybe they were the ones who had helped Rabastan Lestrange out. He wouldn't put it past them to do that.

"Gather the Order, now!" Albus ordered.

Albus paced through his office until the whole Order was here. They were all gathered into his little office, it was pathetic compared to the one he had had when he had been Headmaster of Hogwarts. But he planned on taking the school back. Of course, not all of the Order was here, it was way too small but the main members were here. All except Sirius Black but Albus brushed it aside.

"Why did you need us to come, Albus?" Molly Weasley asked.

"Rabastan Lestrange escaped."

They all gasped. It was nearly funny to see. "How did he do it, Albus?" Nymphadora Lupin asked, her hair turning red in anger.

"We don't know yet." He glanced at Charlie Weasley, who was seated next to an empty chair who was usually occupied by one William Weasley who was suspiciously missing, and was mutely watching the scene. "But I may have my suspicions. We may have traitors amongst out midst my friends."

Again, they gasped. "Who, Albus, who?" Remus asked as he rocked a sleeping three-year-old Teddy Lupin.

Albus took his time to answer, staring at Charlie's face, searching for any emotions that would give him and his brother away. The man looked bored, extremely bored. "Do you have something to share with us, Charlie?"

He quickly looked up, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline is surprise. "What?"

"Do you have something to tell us, Charlie?" Arthur repeated in Albus's stead. The man had grown to profoundly dislike his two eldest sons over the years.

"What would I have to say?" He frowned in confusion, he didn't understand why they were asking him to tell them something. All he wanted was to go and look for Bill, he had disappeared the night before and Charlie was worried. He had barely listened to anything Dumbledore had said, his mind too focused on Bill.

"Don't play smart with me, boy." Albus hissed. "I wouldn't want to have to hurt you."

Charlie's jaw dropped in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"__Crucio__." Someone hissed and next thing Charlie knew, he was writhing on the floor and gaping for breath but he refused to scream. He knew the whole Order was nothing but scum. But what hurt the most was that his mother, the woman that had given birth to him and had sworn to protect him, did not move one bit.

"You didn't have to do that, Percy." Arthur scolded weakly.

"I wanted to for a while now, besides if it can make him talk." Percy replied smugly.

Charlie was still twitching on the floor, his muscles sensitive from the torture. "Why did you do that?" He hissed, angry tears running down his cheeks.

"You need to talk Charlie, it's for the best." Albus said, his voice was deadly sweet.

"I don't even know what you want me to tell." Charlie spat.

"How did you free Rabastan Lestrange?" Molly asked.

"What? I didn't do that."

"Don't lie." Nymphadora hissed, her hair redder than before. Then she threw another Cruciatus at him.

"Either you did it or Bill did it. Either way, you know." Albus said.

"My brothers are traitors." Fred said, looking slightly sad.

"I didn't I swear." Charlie sobbed, his muscles aching from the two Cruciatus he had suffered through.

Molly sighed and shook her head. "I didn't raise you as a liar."

"I'm not lying! I swear, please. Mum, please. I just want to find Bill. I just-" Another Cruciatus hit him before he could end his sentence, coming from Molly this time.

"Don't lie to me, you ungrateful boy." She shrieked.

Charlie was growing weak. "I wish you were here." He mumbled to himself. "Where are you, Bill?"

"It's useless. I'm afraid that he's lost. There's nothing we can get out of him. We should wait for Bill to show up." Albus sighed.

"What do you suggest we do with him, Albus?" Remus asked, trying to soothe a crying Teddy who had been woken up by Charlie's screams.

"I'm afraid we don't have a choice, my boy. I'm sorry Molly but we can't risk him saying anything to Bill or worse, Tom." He sent a sad smile at Molly who nodded in resignation. "We have to get rid of him."

"No! Please, I swear it wasn't me." Charlie sobbed desperately as he tried to calm his wild muscles. He didn't want to die.

"I'm sorry, my boy." Albus said.

The last thing Charlie saw was a green light then he was gone, his brother's name on his lips.

*****CM*RL*****


	13. Chapter 13 - Somebody To Lean On

*****CM*RL*****

Fenrir was lost in thought as he followed Tom to the dungeons. He didn't dare say anything. He was so ashamed of himself. Right then and there, he came to think that maybe it could have been better if Remus had tore him apart when he had massacred his pack. He wouldn't have hurt his little mate then. He had just met his sweet, tiny, little mate and what had he done? He had hurt him. He deserved to die for that.

"He's all yours." He heard Tom say but his voice was all muffled and sounded like he was far away.

All Fenrir could think about was his little mate. He had been searching for decades, everytime he had travelled, he had hold onto the hope that he would cross path with his mate. But eventually, he had given up. Fenrir had been getting older and older with each passing year and so he had resigned himself to the fact that he would die alone. But he had found him. Finally. And he had ruined everything.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a deep growl coming from a few feet ahead. His eyes snapped toward the sound to discover a man on the floor. Fenrir took a deep breath and nearly choked at the smell. The man smelt like a werewolf, a newly turned one, and he smelt different, sweeter. An omega.

To say that Fenrir was shocked was an understatement. The last time he had seen a male omega, he had been a pup himself. They were rare and Fenrir had be taught that they were to be cherished. He slowly walked toward the cell where the pup was lying. He seemed lost, scared and ready to rip apart anyone that stepped too close. He was flushed against the far wall, allowing Fenrir enough room to step into the cell and close it back without the werewolf escaping.

The man's blue eyes snapped toward Fenrir, glaring at him as he growled threateningly. Fenrir wouldn't have any of that and growled back, his growl was much more intimidating that the omega's weak one.

The man flinched, curling in on himself. Fenrir was standing proud, everything in him screamed 'alpha', making the man whine pathetically. Fenrir frowned when he noticed that the man was obviously in pain, he wasn't supposed to be in pain. The full moon was tomorrow so he wasn't supposed to be in pain just yet. The Alpha took careful steps toward the little omega and slowly knelt down next to him. The last thing he wanted was for the omega to freak out and to force Fenrir to kill him. He had already killed too many people in his life, the only person he wanted to kill now was Remus. He would never kill anyone again once the traitor was dead, unless his mate was in danger of course.

Fenrir touched the man's forehead and nearly hissed in surpise. He was burning up. Was he sick? But werewolves didn't get sick. Then, it hit him. He was fighting the bite. He was already turned but he was pushing his wolf away. "Sh, it's okay. You're safe, just let go." Fenrir smiled when the man leaned into his touch. "Just breathe, and relax. What is happening to you is totally normal. But you have to accept it if you want to survive."

The man obliged and took deep breaths which were more like heavy pants. Fenrir was glad that he was so responsive. "Feels good." His words were slurred together and barely understandable but Fenrir managed.

He leaned into Fenrir's side but didn't say anything until he had calmed down. Fenrir was pleased with just feeling the Omega's skin cool down and his breath slowing back down to normal. "Who turned you?"

"M-My parents' friend." He mumbled as he nuzzled Fenrir's side.

"When was it?"

"Two days ago." He looked up at Fenrir, his golden-specked blue eyes glazed over with exhaustion. "I didn't want that."

"There's nothing wrong with being werewolf. Anyone who told you otherwise was lying."

"But my parents said-"

"Your parents were wrong." Fenrir cut him off. He didn't know who his parents were but they were ignorant people. He could bet that they were Light wizards. "There's nothing wrong with being a werewolf. You're here now, and you're okay."

The man frowned. "You're an Alpha, right?"

"How would you know? You're way too young to be able to recognize me by my scent." Fenrir smirked playfully. He was happy that he had managed to get the omega to relax.

He shrugged one shoulder. "The man who turned me taught me a few things...before. He used to spend a lot of time home when I was a kid. I know that you're an Alpha. And I know that I'm not one so I'm either a Beta or an Omega."

Fenrir's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the little Omega's straightforwardness, he hadn't expected him to be so understanding after the little panic attack he had had earlier. "You're an Omega."

"Right." The man sighed and looked down at his hands. "So, I'm gonna have to be someone's bitch, right?"

Fenrir nearly chocked on his saliva at the man's words. "Who told you that? You're never gonna be someone's bitch."

"But he said-"

"I don't care." Fenrir cut him off. He cupped the omega's face with his hands, forcing him to look at him. "You're not gonna be anyone's bitch. Never. Omegas are to be cherished. Everyone knows that. You're precious, trust me." The Omega smiled slightly. "Now, who told you those lies?"

"Remus. His name's Remus Lupin. He turned me."

Fenrir's jaw dropped. "Why would he do that? He hates being a werewolf."

The Omega shrugged. "He said that Dumbledore asked him to. He said that I would be under his control if I was a werewolf and that I wouldn't be an obstacle to Dumbledore's plans anymore."

Fenrir growled, making the Omega whine and put his throat on display for Fenrir to bite. His instincts were strong already. "I'm not mad at you, little one. I'm just mad because...because he planned on taking advantage of you. He's despicable. But I'm glad you managed to escape."

"My brother helped me. He doesn't know it but he helped." His eyes filled with tears. "He's the only one I have left...and I left him there. With those horrible people."

"You __needed__ to get away. Tell me your name and I'll help you get him back."

"Bill. Bill Weasley."

Fenrir had never been so surprised in his whole life. When he came to think of it, the man, __Bill__, really looked like a Weasley, with his fiery red hair and his big blue eyes. He didn't know why he hadn't realized it sooner.

*****CM*RL*****

Severus Apparated home, only to discover an empty and silent manor. He and Regulus had decided to live at Prince Manor after Tom's victory and, usually, Regulus was either in the library or in the main room but they were both empty. Worry flooded his heart in a second. He knew that, in theory, nothing could happen to his lover while he was in the manor but he couldn't help himself. If something happened to him or their unborn baby, Severus wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

He reached the third floor and slowed down when he heard ushered voices coming from their bedroom. Well, one voice. Regulus's. Severus sighed in relief but couldn't help but wonder who his lover was talking to.

He stopped by the door, which was ajar, allowing Severus to watch his lover without being caught. Regulus was lying on the bed, his shirt was lifted up to reveal the slight bump that formed his belly. It wouldn't have been visible to anyone else but Severus knew it was there. Regulus's left hand was softly caressing it while he was talking. "It was fun. Your Daddy can be funny when he wants to be. He used to be a bitter old git in school, you know." Severus bit his lip to hold back his laughter while Regulus was chuckling wholeheartedly. "And I think I hated him at first but never tell him I told you that. But he's lovely. He stuck by my side when your Uncle left, I think that's when I realized I didn't want to be friends with him anymore. I wanted...more. I love him so much. We can't wait for you to be here. We love you so much already."

Severus opened the door carefully and gently cleared his throat, making Regulus jump in surprise. "How long have you been here?" Regulus asked, his hand never leaving his belly.

"Long enough to know that you hated me when we were at Hogwarts." Severus chuckled as Regulus paled. "But that's okay." He walked until he reached the bed. "I know that you love me now and I love you." He bent down to press a loving kiss onto Regulus's lips.

Regulus giggled. "I love it when you kiss me."

"And I love it when I kiss you." He kissed him again. "And you're right, I can't wait for this little one to come. We'll be a family. And you know what would be better? It would be better if every member of that family was here."

Regulus frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Severus sat down on the bed, he felt like he would need to sit down for the conversation that was to come. "I know that I should have told you sooner but I wasn't sure we could trust him and I didn't want to risk you or the baby."

"Sev, you're scaring me."

"Sirius switched sides."

Regulus sat up at once, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening in shock. "He-He switched sides? Where is he?"

"Riddle Manor."

"How long have you known?"

Severus winced, Regulus was going to be mad. "A month."

"A month!?" Just as Severus predicted, he started yelling. "You've known that my brother was on our side for a month and you didn't think to tell me!? He's been at Tom's for a freaking month and you tell me just now!? You've got to be kidding me."

"I didn't-"

"Stop worrying!"Regulus cut him off. "He's my brother Severus, my brother." Severus hated it when Regulus called him Severus, it usually meant that he was in trouble. He always called him Sev, not Severus. "Are you stupid enough to think that my own brother would hurt me!?" Regulus got out of bed and walked out of the room before Severus could say anything.

"Where are you going?" Severus asked as he followed his lover downstairs.

"I'm going to see my brother who I haven't seen for fourteen years."

"But you-"

Regulus wirled around, taking Severus by surprise. "I don't care! I don't care that I'm pregnant. I don't care that I'm carrying your baby. I'm going to see my brother and you're not coming with me."

He was out of sight and out of the Manor before Severus had recovered from his shock. He knew that it had been a bad idea to keep everything from him but he had just been worried. Why couldn't Regulus understand that?

*****CM*RL*****

Lucius went back to the library after Amycus had left, he would take care of the whole new-students ordeal later. Right now, he needed to learn about Elves. He quickly went to the far shelves, the ones that held every book he possessed about magical creatures. He had everything: Vampires, Werewolves, a lot of them were about Veelas, Ghosts, Incubi and Succubi, he even found one about Banshees. But there was nothing about Elves.

He did not stop searching though, and then, hidden behing a huge volume about Veelas, he found it: a little and thin book about Elves. He got himself settled on the table and started reading. He went straight to the part about Elves that were born from parents whose genes were recessive.

__Upon reaching the age of Inheritance, fifteen, the Elf's appearance will change greatly. Depending on whether they are Dominant or Submissive, their appearance will change differently. A Dominant will grow two to six inches in height and their built will become broader, allowing them to be stronger. A Submissive will become smaller, leaner and more delicate, they also tend to be more feminine than they were while they hadn't come into their Inheritance yet. Yet, the most noticeable and obvious physical trait is the slender, pointy ears.__

__Along with their physical changes, an Elf will become calmer and less likely to use violence. A Dominant will be more aggressive than a Submissive and a Submissive will become more emotional and versatile. A Submissive tend to be more at peace and happy around their destined mate and children.__

__A Submissive Elf can become unbearably hormonal and sex driven during the mating seasons which occur on the second day of the full moon. During that single night, a Submissive needs to be with their destined mate or else they die a slow, painful death as they destroy themselves from the inside. That night, the Mating Night, Submissives, carriers, are more likely to get impregnanted by their mate than any other day.__

__When an Elf first comes into their Inheritance, they have until the end of their first Mating Night to find their destined mate and bond with them. If they do not, they will lose the will to live and perish within a month. That is why it is essential for an Elf to use their senses to find their mate.__

__A mate is chosen by the Elf's instincts and it has nothing to do with the conscious mind. They will bind themselves to another forever, the chosen is someone they will naturally feel strongly for and will always be pulled toward one another. The bond is a mutual finding and can only be born by two souls already somewhat connected.__

__Elves crave and yearn for their intended mate at all times and can become exceedingly dangerous when their chosen is in harm's way.__

__The simplest way for an Elf to find their mate is through the powers of scent and dreams. An intended's scent can be described as incredibly enticing for an Elf, the Elf would find himself unable to resist and stay away from their intended. It takes a month for an Elf to fully be able to dream about their mate. Once a month has passed after their Inheritance activated, the Elf will start dreaming about their intended every chance they get. The first thing an Elf usually dreams about is a color. Their intended's eye color.__

Lucius stopped reading there, he had learned enough. He even felt like he knew too much. He checked the author's name, just to make sure that it was not a crappy author that had made everything up. Cygnus Black I. It was Narcissa's ancestor. Had he been an Elf himself? It would explain why Cygni was an Elf himself. And from what Lucius had understood, Rabastan Lestrange was his intended. He wished it was not true.

The full moon was a night away, and so Cygni's Mating Night was two nights away. He and Rabastan would have to mate then. Lucius didn't want to think about that. He never wanted to think about his little swan having intercourse with an old man such as Rabastan. He was way too old to be Cygni's mate. Lucius wanted to look for a way to break the bond but he gave up even before he started searching. It was pointless. All he had to do was learn to live the fact that his son would have to live with his sister-in-law's husband's brother, the last thing he wanted now was to think about the Lestranges as family.

This was so wrong. Cygni wasn't supposed to mate yet, or he was supposed to mate with someone his age at least. Lucius sighed in defeat and resignation. At least Cygni would be happy.

"What are you reading?" Lucius turned around to see his wife walking toward him. She looked down at his book before he could even answer. "Ah. So you know about Cygni and Rabastan."

Lucius's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You knew?"

Narcissa sat down on her husband's lap. "My grandfather, Pollux, was an Elf. Dominant genes, not recessive ones. I know how to recognize mates when I see them. I wanted you to realize by yourself." She smiled softly and kissed his cheek.

"How come Cygni is the only one of his descendants with dominant genes then?"

"The Inheritance is triggered by strong emotions. When my grandfather died, the race died with him so I didn't think there was any chance that our children would be Elves themselves. But when we got Cygni back, I saw his ears and I was happy. It is an honor to be an Elf. And then I caught him and Rabastan talking, and I knew. It was so obvious. They were devouring each other with their eyes without even realizing. I am happy for our son and you should be as well. Rabastan is a good and honorable man."

"A good man? Of course, what was I thinking? He is a good man who sleeps with everything that moves."

Narcissa hit him on the arm softly. "Do not play coy with me, mister. You know that he is good for Cygni. You just do not want to admit it because it concerns your son."

Lucius sighed, she knew him too well. "You are right. I just do not want him to grow up too fast. We missed so much already."

"I know. But he's here now and whether he is with Rabastan or not, he will always be our son. And you will always be his Daddy and I will always be his Mummy. No matter what. Nothing is going to change that."

Lucius could not help but smile. Oh, how much he loved that woman and her wise words. "Have I kissed you today, Mrs. Malfoy?"

She giggled. "I'm pretty sure you have, Mr. Malfoy, but I might need a reminder."

Lucius kissed her, softly and lovingly. He then proceeded to kiss her long and hard before slowing to little pecks.

"At least Draco is still single." Lucius sighed when he pulled away. Narcissa bit her lower lip to hold back her chuckle which made Lucius sigh again. "He is dating that Zabini guy, right?"

"I'm afraid so, Darling." She chuckled. "Your obliviousness astounds me sometimes."

"Oh, I am sorry for wanting to keep my sons pure and innocent. They do not need to date people."

"Pure? Really? But they are just following your example, dear."

"My example? And what are you impling exactly? That I am a perverted old man perhaps?"

Narcissa giggled again and Lucius loved that melodious sound more than anything. "I might."

"Alright." He narrowed his eyes, in a mock threat. "I will show you how perverted I am then." He attacked her neck with bites and kisses before she could even protest.

*****CM*RL*****

Cygnus shot up in bed after another nightmare. He was alone in his bed and he was scared. He had had an awful nightmare and he needed to make sure that it wasn't true. He had dreamt about Vernon again but this time, not only had he had his wicked way with Cygnus but he had also killed Rabi. Silent tears ran down Cygnus's cheeks as he remembered the sight of Rabi's dead body on the cold ground.

He got out of bed and ran to the Floo. He needed to make sure that Rabi was still alive. It was early in the evening so surely Rabi was back home now. Cygnus knew that he lived in Lestrange Manor and so he Flooed there. He was unable to stop his sobs but he didn't really care at the moment. He needed to see Rabi.

He ran through Lestrange Manor, frantically calling for Rabi and blinded by his tears. He was caught off guard when Rabi came out of a room and so Cygnus collided hard with him. He clung onto Rabi's robes and cried hard into his chest. His tears of distress turned into tears of relief but they didn't stop.

"What happened?" Rabi asked him, he clearly didn't know what to think of Cygni's hysterical crying.

"I-I...Y-You...dead-" Cygnus's sobs prevented him from forming a whole sentence.

"Sh, calm down." Rabi ran his fingers through Cygnus's hair in a soothing motion. "I'm here."

Cygnus cried until he was too exhausted to do so. He hadn't even noticed that Rabastan had moved them to a bed, which was probably his. They were both lying on it, Cygnus was flushed against Rabi's side, his head resting on his strong chest while Rabi was running a hand through his hair and the other was wrapped around his waist.

"Calm enough to tell me what happened?" Rabi asked softly.

"I was sleeping and I had a nightmare." Cygnus mumbled.

"Same as at St. Mungo's?"

Cygnus nodded. "Someone was chasing me and then he caught me. And you were there." He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "Then he killed you." He felt Rabi's arm tightened around his waist. "And you were dead and I couldn't do anything. You were bleeding to death and I couldn't save you." By the time he had finished talking, Cygnus was back to crying his little heart out.

"It's okay, I'm here. I'm okay. No one's gonna kill me." Rabi kissed the top of Cygnus's head.

"Promise me you're gonna stay with me forever." Cygnus begged.

"I promise."

"Say it."

"I promise you that I'll never leave you. No one will be able to take me away from you. Ever." Cygnus felt his heart skip a beat in happiness.

"I'm glad." Cygnus kissed Rabi's chest, it was the only place he could reach without moving an inch. He stiffled a yawn. "I think- I think I couldn't live without you, you know." Cygnus was way too tired to realize what he was saying now.

Rabastan smiled happily, a smile that Cygnus missed but if he had seen it, his heart would have stopped. "Neither could I, Cygni. Neither could I."

Cygnus relished in the feeling of Rabi's fingers petting his hair, it was getting lower and lower until the tip of Rabi's forefinger brushed against the pointy top of his ear. Cygnus moaned without even realizing that the sound had left his mouth. "Do that again." He mumbled sleepily.

He smiled slightly in happiness as Rabi complied. His fingers only caressed his ear now and Cygnus had never experienced such pleasure before. The feeling of Rabi's gentle and strong fingers against the silky skin of his ear lulled Cygnus to sleep in no time.

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Sirius was waiting for Corvus to wake up, sitting on his bed, doing nothing. It was nearly time for his son to have his afternoon milk so he patiently waited. His thoughts brought him back to this morning, to the first kiss he and Tom had shared. A few others had happened right after the first but the first one was the one he remembered the most.

He absentmindedly touched his lips. He could almost feel Tom's lips against his own still. Their first kiss had been soft and gentle, as though Tom had been afraid to hurt him. Maybe there had been too much saliva and too much teeth and not enough tongue involved but to Sirius, it was still perfect. He could feel his lips warm up at the mere thought of Tom's against them.

He giggled. He clapped his hand against his mouth as soon as the sound left his mouth. He felt like a little girl, a silly little schoolgirl who had had her first kiss. It was absurd.

Sirius jumped and fell from his bed when Tom spoke up. "You've got a visitor."

"Don't do that ever again." Sirius hissed through gritted teeth as he got up to his feet. He hadn't even noticed that Tom had been standing by the door.

All Sirius wanted to do was kiss that smug smirk away from Tom's mouth. "Sorry. You were too caught up with touching your lips so I'm not that surprised you didn't hear me knock. I don't know what you were thinking about but it looked like it was good."

Sirius blushed as he saw in Tom's eyes that he __knew__ what Sirius had been thinking about. He awkwardly cleared his throat. "I'll just, ugh, yeah."

He tried to walk past Tom but was stopped when Tom grabbed his arm and pulled him into a soul-sucking kiss. Sirius couldn't do anything other than melt into it. He was sure he would've fell down to the floor if it was not for Tom's arm wrapped around his waist.

When Tom finally pulled away, Sirius was left boneless and panting. "You should go downstairs, someone is waiting for you." He whispered against Sirius's lips. Before he could help himself, Sirius got on his tiptoes and kissed Tom again. He loved the feeling of Tom's lips against his own too much. He felt like he was addicted already.

Tom chuckled when he pulled away. "Really you should go, we can do a lot more kissing later on. I'll keep an eye on Corvus for you."

"Thanks." Sirius mumbled, a silly smile on his face as he hurrried out of his room. His heart was beating fast, too fast. That was what Tom did to him, Sirius would probably die of hyperventilation because of him someday.

Sirius sobbered up at once when he arrived in the waiting room, he saw someone he thought he would never get to see again. Regulus.

"Hi." Regulus smiled shyly.

Sirius couldn't talk. A lump had formed in his throat and he was fighting hard to keep his tears from falling, they were gathering in his eyes and started blinding him. "But- But Dumbledore said...He said you were dead."

Regulus shrugged. "Looks like I'm not."

Sirius couldn't take it anymore. He needed to feel, to __touch__ his brother, to make sure that he was real. He pulled him into a bone-crushing hug and held onto him for dear life as his tears spilled over. "I missed you so much, Reggie." He sobbed hard.

"I missed you too, Siri. I missed you too."

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	14. Chapter 14 - A Badger

_A/N: I decided that, giving that Voldemort won the war, the new Headmaster, Amycus, decided to get rid of the Gryffindor house. So yeah, there's no Gryffindors. Moreover, I skipped six days so just so you know, Rabi and Cygni didn't get to mate on the Mating Night so problems are coming up REALLY fast._

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__-6 days later-__

"Dad?" Cygnus called to get his father's attention as Lucius was reading the Daily Prophet. "I don't feel so good."

Cygnus was supposed to start Hogwarts today, hence why he had woken up so early. But as soon as he had woken up, he had been assaulted by an awful stomachache. He had taken a shower and had dressed himself up, hoping that not thinking about it would make it go away. But he had been wrong.

Lucius frowned in worry and felt his forehead for any sign of a fever. "What's wrong?"

"My stomach hurts." Cygni whimpered.

"Only your stomach?" Cygni nodded. "It's probably just a little anxiety. Are you feeling nervous about going to Hogwarts?" Cygni nodded again.

He was nervous. He had talked about it with his Mum and Dad when they had gone to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies two days ago. He had been ecstatic about getting a wand, he only had had to try two wands at Ollivander's before finding the right one. From what Ollivander had told him, his wand was unique and powerful. It was eleven inches long, made of aspen wood, dragon heartstring and a single drop of an Elf's blood. Cygnus hadn't understand how it had been possible to put a drop of blood into a wand but it was the Wizarding World, anything was possible after all. He loved his wand already.

Cygnus had talked about the Houses with his parents. They had told him how every Malfoy had been sorted in Slytherin and how every Black had been sorted in Slytherin. Except for his mother's cousin, Sirius. He had been in Gryffindor. But the Gryffindor house didn't exist anymore so Cygnus was sure that he wouldn't end up like him. From what he had understood, Sirius had been a traitor once, he had been manipulated, but he had been a traitor still. Luckily, he was back on their side now.

From the short time he had spent in Sirius's company, he loved the man. He was funny and always made jokes and funny pranks. Cygnus loved funny people. He was almost as funny as Rabi but in truth, he couldn't compete with him. Rabi was perfect.

Cygnus loved his family. He wouldn't trade them for anything. He loved his Mum and Dad, his brother, his Uncle Rod, his Aunt Bella, his Uncle Siri, his Uncle Tom, his Uncle Reggie and even little Corvi. But the only one he had trouble being comfortable with was his Uncle Sev. He was scary. He had a big nose and he looked like he wanted to murder someone sometimes. But he loved him anyway. He loved Blaise too, Cygnus was sure that he would be family one day.

All in all, Cygnus wanted to be sorted into Slytherin. He would get to spend time with Draco then. He wanted to make his big brother proud and be just like him.

Lucius chuckled. "It's just anxiety Cygni. It will go away eventually. And you do not need to be nervous, there is nothing to be nervous about."

Cygnus bit his lip. "But what if I'm not sorted into Slytherin?"

"Then you will not be sorted into Slytherin. It does not matter, we will love you no matter what House you are in." Lucius kissed his son's forehead. "Come on, it's time to go."

They quickly went to the fireplace where Narcissa was already waiting for them and Flooed to Hogwarts. They arrived in what Cygnus assumed to the Headmaster's office.

"Lucius!" A man exclaimed. "I was waiting for you." He shook hands with Lucius and turned to Narcissa. "A pleasure to see you, Narcissa." He kissed her hand. "And you should be Cygnus, right?"

Cygnus nodded, a small smile on his lips. The man was too cheerful and too loud which made Cygnus want to laugh at him. "Well, I'm Amycus Carrow and I'll be your Headmaster from now on."

"Sorry, he's a little nervous." Narcissa said when Cygnus didn't answer. Cygnus frowned slightly and wanted to protest. He was not nervous, his stomach just hurt to much for him to act like a civilized person.

"Oh, but there's nothing to be nervous about. I'm sure you'll be really comfortable here." Amycus, well Mr. Carrow, said. He couldn't quite call his Headmaster by his first name, right?

His parents and Headmaster started talking about things Cygnus didn't want to understand so he busied himself with trying to forget about his stomachache. He stayed close to his father, almost melting into his side. Small whimpers started to leave his mouth when the pain became too much.

"Dad." He whined. He knew he acted like a little child but he wanted his father to comfort him, to make the pain go away.

Lucius silently picked his son up. Cygnus thanked Merlin that he was so small and so light and that his father could still pick him up. It was a little awkward for a fifteen-year-old to be held like a baby but it made Cygnus's heart flood with warmth. He wrapped his arms around his father's neck and gripped his waist with his legs. He buried his face into his father's neck, wanting to forget about the pain.

"What's wrong with him?" The Headmaster asked.

"He's been a little..fussy ever since he woke up. He complained about stomach aches." Lucius said.

"I'll get him to the Infirmary after breakfast." Cygnus stopped listening to their conversation after that and clung to his father harder.

"How about you let go of me, uh?" Lucius told Cygnus. "Your mother and I have to go now."

Cygnus only tightened his hold of his father. "I don't want you to go. Don't leave me alone."

"You will not be alone. You'll be with Draco, darling." Narcissa softly petted Cygnus's hair.

Cygnus sighed. He didn't want to leave his parents but he wanted to see his brother again. He quietly wriggled out of his father's arms. "Okay. See you soon?"

"We'll visit next weekend. And we'll write, okay? You'll just have to write us a letter right after the Sorting and your visit to the Infirmary." Narcissa smiled sweetly at him and kissed his forehead.

Next thing Cygnus knew, his parents were gone and he was awkwardly standing in the Great Hall. His eyes were fixed on Draco, seated at the Slytherin table next to Blaise and a dark-brown haired girl. He was smiling reassuringly at him which made Cygnus a little calmer. The only people he recognized in the Hall were Draco and Blaise, he didn't know anyone other than them. But there were four long tables. The Slytherin table, the Hufflepuff table, the Ravenclaw table and another table. But Cygnus didn't know what table it was. There were only eleven people seated at this table and Cygnus couldn't help but wonder if they were outcasts or if they were somehow grounded.

He patiently waited for the Headmaster to speak up. "Good morning everyone, we have a new student today. Please, welcome Cygnus Malfoy." Everyone clapped heartily except for the eleven people on the last table. Cygnus couldn't help but feel hurt. Did they hate him already? They didn't even know him yet. "He was home-schooled for some time but he decided to come to Hogwarts." Cygnus was glad that the Headmaster didn't tell everyone the real story. "So I'll ask everyone to be nice and welcoming. Now, the Sorting."

"We want to be sorted as well." A tall, red-headed boy shouted from the last table.

"No, you're not going to be sorted, M. Weasley." The Headmaster said.

"But that's not fair, according to-" A brushy haired girl protested.

"Don't talk Mrs. Granger, you're giving me a headache already." The whole room exploded into laughter at the Headmaster comment. Cygnus personally thought that the Headmaster was being mean.

"We have to be sorted!" The red-head, M. Weasley, yelled.

The Headmaster huffed in annoyance. "Alright, you'll be sorted. Just stop bugging me. What are you, parasites?"

A small, plump woman, who looked a lot like the Headmaster walked until she was standing next to Cygnus. "We'll proceed as usual. Alphabetic order. Seventh years first." The woman said as the eleven people from the lone table walked toward her and the Hat.

"Brown, Lavender." The Hat was placed on the girl's head.

"HUFFLEPUFF." The Hat yelled. Cygnus's parents had told him about the Sorting Hat and he found it funny. A Hat that could see inside people's head and determine which house they should be in depending on their qualities and defaults, it was marvelous.

"Finnigan, Seamus."

"HUFFLEPUFF."

"Granger, Hermione."

"RAVENCLAW."

"Longbottom, Neville."

"HUFFLEPUFF."

"Patil, Padma."

"RAVENCLAW."

"Patil, Parvati."

"RAVENCLAW."

"Potter, Daniel."

"HUFFLEPUFF."

"Thomas, Dean."

"RAVENCLAW."

"Weasley, Ronald."

"HUFFLEPUFF."

"Now, fifth years. Lovegood, Luna."

"RAVENCLAW."

"Malfoy, Cygnus."

The woman finally placed the Hat on his head, smiling warmly at him. Cygnus noticed that he was the only one she had smiled to.

"__A Malfoy__." He heard in his head. "__I never thought you would come."__

"I came." Cygnus mumbled in reply.

"__I can see that, I can see that__.__And now I have to sort you. Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Where should I put you?"__

"Slytherin?" Cygnus suggested in small voice.

"__Slytherin, ugh? Why would you want to go there?"__

"'Cause my brother is there."

"__Right, you're a Malfoy. Your name only should give you access to the House of the Snakes. But a name isn't everything, right?" __He didn't even give Cygnus a chance to answer. "__Ravenclaw is out of the question. Not that you're not smart enough but it just doesn't fit you. Now, either Slytherin or Hufflepuff. Decisions, decisions."__ Cygnus was inwardly praying to be sorted into Slytherin. He wanted to be with his brother and Blaise. Besides, the red-head, Ronald, had been sorted into Hufflepuff and he didn't like him very much so he wanted to avoid being in the same house as him._"___I'd say..."__

"HUFFLEPUFF." The Hat shouted.

Cygnus could feel his world collapse. He didn't want to be in Hufflepuff. He felt his eyes moisten and a second later, strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a hard, comforting hug. Draco.

"I wanted to be with you." Cygnus sobbed as he clung to his brother's robes.

"It's okay, little one. Hufflepuff is okay." Draco whispered to him.

"But I wanted to be like you."

Draco pulled away and looked at him square in the eye. "It's fine. You'll be great in Hufflepuff. Not everyone can be a Slytherin. Besides, I'm glad you're a Puff, I always hated traditions. Every Malfoy being in Slytherin? That was bad." Cygnus giggled despite himself. "You see my friend there?" He pointed at the brown-haired girl he had been sitting next to earlier who was smiling at them. She was pretty. "That's Daphne. Her little sister is a fifth year and she's a Hufflepuff, just like you."

Cygnus looked at the Hufflepuff table, they were all smiling at him, except for the ones who had been sitting at the lone table and were now at the Hufflepuff table. They looked like mean people. He looked around the table and tried to find a fifth year who looked like Daphne. When he finally found her, she was waving slightly at him. She was as pretty as her sister but her hair was a little darker which made her pale skin stand out even more.

"You should go sit down now, I'll see you after dinner, okay?" Draco told him softly.

Cygnus didn't want to go sit down there but he knew he had to. He sighed and slowly went to his table, leaving Draco to go back to his. He sat down next to Daphne's sister, hoping that maybe they could be friends just like Daphne and Draco.

"Hi." She greeted him. "My name's Astoria." She was literally beaming and she engulfed him into a warm hug. Cygnus nearly jumped in surprise but he hugged her back. If every Hufflepuff was as cuddly and welcoming as her, he would love his housemates.

He glanced at Draco one last time. He was whispering something into Daphne's ear and she laughed wholeheartedly. Draco then looked at him and winked before he went back to his dinner.

That would be a interesting year.

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	15. Chapter 15 - A Friar, A Baron and A Lady

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Cygnus was quietly playing with his food. He wasn't feeling up to eating anything, his stomach hurt too much. Perhaps he merely needed a good night sleep. He was playing with some broccolis when a head popped up in his plate. A small scream left his lips.

"It's okay, Cygnus. It's just the Fat Friar, our beloved ghost." Astoria told him.

"Oh." A nervous chuckle escaped Cygnus's lips. No one had told him about the ghosts. The Fat Friar as Astoria had called him, looked like..well, a friar. He had little brown hair and a round face, a huge, happy grin lightening it up. He fully came out of Cygnus's plate, allowing the fifteen-year-old to see that he was small and was wearing a friar's gown, and came to sit down next to Cygnus.

"A Malfoy in my house, uh? I never thought I would live long enough to see the day." Cygnus frowned in confusion. Wasn't he supposed to be dead already? The ghost giggled. "I'm kidding I'm already dead." Cygnus laughed despite himself. "You're very much welcome into my house, little Malfoy." He leaned forward to whisper into Cygnus's ear. "I wanted your brother to be in my house as well but the Baron took him away from me." Cygnus giggled and decided that he liked the ghost.

"He shouldn't be here!" Someone yelled from where the seventh years were seated.

Cygnus's face fell, he looked at where the voice had come from but couldn't for the life of him guess who had talked. He felt like crying all of a sudden. Someone already hated him, someone from his own house even. He couldn't stand people hating him, it usually meant violence.

Another ghost appeared but Cygnus had been prepared this time. He had wide black eyes and was so pale that Cygnus could see right through him, more than through the Fat Friar at least. He was wearing a curly powdered wig which made him look like a French nobleman and had a sword in hand which he used as a cane. He was dressed in robes covered in silver bloodstains which made Cygnus wonder if he had been violently murdered in his previous life or if maybe he had murdered someone.

"That's the Bloody Baron, Slytherin's ghost." Astoria filled him in.

"Now, that was not very nice." The Fat Friar scolded playfully. Cygnus came to think that the ghost was unable to show any kind of animosity.

"Indeed, Friar, indeed." The Bloody Baron said, his was nothing but a hoarse whisper, as he was standing right behind one Ronald Weasley and was glaring daggers at his back. Had he been the one talking?

"I trust that you can take care of it, Baron?" The Fat Friar said.

"My pleasure, Friar." The Bloody Baron smirked and amused himself with planting his sword into Weasley's body repeatedly.

"You shouldn't encourage him, Friar." A soft voice scolded.

Cygnus turned to see another ghost standing right behind himself. It was a woman this time. She was tall and looked proud and haughty. She had a pale face and Cygnus supposed that she could be described as beautiful, if only she was a little more relaxed. She had dark, waist-length hair and had gray eyes. She was wearing a floor-length cloak that Cygnus could only describe as elegant. She took a couple of steps toward the Baron but probably thought better of it because she stopped and moved back until she was next to Cygnus again. The teen noticed that she was carrying herself in a serene and peaceful manner. "Would you stop it, Baron." She said.

"The Grey Lady, Ravenclaw's ghost." Astoria whispered to him once again. Cygnus was grateful that she was here to fill him in with the informations he lacked.

"Forgive me, my Lady. I was just defending a Malfoy and trying to teach this young man a lesson." He sent the Grey Lady a repenting look before looking at the Slytherin table. "Also, I was trying to prevent a protective Malfoy from being expelled." He spat the last word which made Draco sit back down at once. "As for you, you're lucky that is not a real sword or you'll already be dead, stupid pumpkin."

Ronald gasped when he finally understood that the Baron had insulted him by calling him a pumpkin. The whole Slytherin exploded in laughter which was very un-Slytherin like but Cygnus didn't mind. He loved it when people laughed. Some Ravenclaws laughed as well, along with a few Hufflepuffs, Cygnus and Astoria included.

"He should be with your disgusting snakes." Ronald told the Baron. "Make him go there since you love Malfoys so much. I don't want him into my house."

Cygnus sadly looked down at his lap. He didn't understand what he had done for the red-head to hate him so much. They hadn't even talked once. He heard the Fat Friar and the Grey Lady gasp and felt Astoria's arm wrap around his shoulders. He sent her a grateful smile and quickly glanced at Draco. He was furious, Cygnus clearly could see it in his eyes. Blaise was whispering to him, probably trying to calm him down. He reminded himself that he would have to thank the Italian boy later for preventing Draco from getting into trouble for him.

Someone cleared his throat and Cygnus couldn't help but look at what was going on. A man was standing behind Weasley. He was tall and had short, light brown hair. He looked proud and haughty. "Detention M. Weasley, with me for a month for your lack of respect and your insolence."

Cygnus looked at Astoria, a small frown on his face. She smiled kindly at him, understanding his silent question right away. "That's Evan Rosier, our Head of House. He's been Head of House for ten years now. That's the first time a professor is Head of a House other than the one they were when they attended Hogwarts. But after Professor Sprout was fired, he took her place."

"Why was she fired?" Cygnus asked.

"She was a spy for Dumbledore."

"Who's Dumbledore?" Cygnus was even more confused now. She talked about people he didn't know as if everyone knew them.

"Your father didn't tell you?" Cygnus shook his head. "He's the leader of the Light Side. They went into hiding years ago and rumors say that they are planning on killing Tom Riddle and taking back the Wizarding World."

Cygnus's eyes popped out of his head in shock. This Dumbledore seemed to be a horrible person. He wanted to kill his Uncle Tom. He couldn't understand why anyone would want to kill his uncle. He was kind and funny. Why would people want to kill him?

Cygnus didn't want Astoria to talk about Dumbledore anymore so he went back to listening to the ghosts who were now arguing about whether or not they should punish Weasley more. The Fat Friar was for leaving him alone and was telling the others that everyone made mistakes and that they should give him a second chance. The Grey Lady was kind of neutral, she was telling the Bloody Baron to calm down and they should think about the situation more in depth to take a wise decision. The Boody Baron, on the other hand, was fuming. His expression reminded Cygnus of the one he had seen on Draco's face mere moments ago. The Baron wanted to make Weasley suffer, he even mentioned throwing him from the Astronomy Tower.

Professor Rosier ignored the ghosts after assigning Weasley his detentions and walked to Cygnus. He smiled and handed him a piece of paper. "Your schedule. I'm your Head of House, Professor Rosier. Your father told us which classes you wanted to take so we arranged a schedule for you."

"Thank you, Professor." Cygnus mumbled back before looking at his schedule.

On Mondays, he had a free period first, DADA with Professor Crouch on second period, Ancient Runes with Professor Mars on third period, Herbology with Professor Rosier on fourth period, then Lunch and double Charms with Professor Flitwick on fifth and sixth period.

On Tuesdays, he had double Tranfiguration with Professor Carrow on first and second period, Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Dolohov on third period, then free period and lunch, then came double Arithmancy with Professor Vector on fifth and sixth period, and History of Magic with Professor Binns on seventh period.

On Wednesdays, he had Care of Magical Creatures first period, then Potions with Professor Slughorn, and double Herbology. Then, Charms on fifth period and a free period before Flying. He wasn't supposed to take that course but he had never flown in his life so he needed to learn.

On Thurdays, he had double DADA and double History of Magic before lunch and double Ancient Runes after lunch.

On Fridays, he had Care of Magical Creatures second period, Transfiguration on third period and Arithmancy fourth period. He had a free period after lunch and then double potions to end the week.

He also had Astronomy on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Overall, his schedule was not bad. He couldn't wait to see if classes with those new teachers were as good as when his dad and his uncle Sev were teaching him.

Astoria looked at his schedule as well. "We've got the same classes!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

"Really? All of them?"

"Yeah, that's great. We'll be together all the time." She was literally beaming. "And we've got a free period now. What do you want to do?" She asked as students started to leave the Great Hall.

"I've got to go to the Infirmary." He smiled apologetically, he wanted to spend time with Astoria and get to know her better but his stomach was hurting more and more by the minute. He felt like someone was piercing holes through it with their wand.

"Do you want me to come with you?" She asked.

Cygnus shrugged carelessly. "Why not. Besides, I don't know where the Infirmary is yet anyway."

They slowly walked to the double doors leading out of the Great Hall, they reached it just as Draco and his friends were leaving. "Are you okay?" Draco asked him. He must have seen on his face that something was wrong, Cygnus himself had felt his own face pale.

"It's just my stomach." Cygnus replied. He didn't want his brother to worry. "But it's not that bad. Mum and Dad told me to go to Infirmary after breakfast before they left so that's what I was about to do." Cygnus smiled slightly to reassure his brother. "Maybe you could introduce me?" He suggested.

Draco chuckled and shook his head slightly at his brother's antics. "Well, you already know Blaise." Cygnus nodded and waved at him. "That's Daphne." He waved at the the brown haired girl, she really looked like Astoria. "That's Theo." He was tall, extremely tall and thin. He had brown hair which contrasted with his pale skin. He looked a little too pale in Cygnus's opinion. "And that's Pansy." She was rather pretty, not as much as Daphne or Astoria but she was good-looking still. She had dark brown hair that went down to the middle of her back and pale skin, though she had a bit more color than Cygnus himself or even Theo.

Overall, they all looked friendly.

"You'll have to give me a copy of your schedule. Now, off you go." Draco told him as he, himself, walked away to go to his classes. They all waved at him, smiling warmly and Blaise ruffled his hair. He still had trouble accepting Blaise's touch, much like anyone other than his family and Rabi's touch really, but he was working on it.

"Come on, let's go." Astoria told him before she led him to the Infirmary.

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Here is my version of the Hogwarts staff:  
DADA: Barty Crouch Jr.  
Herbology: Evan Rosier (Head of Hufflepuff)  
Transfiguration: Alecto Carrow (Deputy Headmistress)  
Potions: Horace Slughorn (Head of Slytherin)  
Charms: Filius Flitwick (Head of Ravenclaw)  
History of Magic: Binns  
Divination: Firenze  
Arithmancy: Spetima Vector  
Ancient Runes: Alesia Mars (She's an OC)  
Care of Magical Creatures: Antonin Dolohov  
Astronomy: Aurora Sinistra


	16. Chapter 16 - Condemned

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"Did you find him?" Albus asked as Remus walked into his office.

Remus sighed and shook his head. "It's been a week. The full moon was six days ago. I should have found him." Remus's eyes turned gold as he began to get angry. "I turned him, he should have sought me out during the full moon, yet he didn't. Something's wrong."

"What do you mean?" Albus was frustrated. Things weren't going his way and he hated it.

Remus paced. "I don't know! He must've died or..." He froze.

"What is it?"

"Or he found another Alpha." Remus laughed hysterically, Albus had to admit that he looked a bit crazy that way. "Greyback. Have you heard anything about him lately?"

"I'm afraid not. None of my spies have reported yet and it's been nine days." Albus frowned slightly.

His spies were supposed to come to him twice a week and yet he hadn't heard anything from them for nine days. It was getting on Albus's nerves. Weren't they capable of doing one single job?

"I'm sure he found him. He managed to lure Bill into joining Voldemort. I'll keep searching." He walked away and out of the office but stopped at the door. "Have you found Sirius?"

Albus sighed, he knew Remus was bound to ask someday but he would have rather it be later, when he had better news. "No, I have not."

Remus sighed. "Right. Let me know when you do. James is worried as well."

"No need to worry, we'll find him."

Albus sighed heavily once Remus was gone, his shoulders sagging in defeat. Too many people were disappearing lately. Sirius, Bill, his spies. He hadn't wanted to tell Remus but Albus was sure that Sirius had betrayed him to the Dark Side. He didn't know why Sirius would have done that but he was sure that he did. The man had no reason to betray them, they had been nothing but kind to him. Sure, there had been this little argument about Sirius's pregnancy, but he couldn't be mad about that, right? It had been for the Greater Good, just the Greater Good, always the Greater Good.

*****CM*RL*****

Cygnus felt his stomach churn with apprehension and anxiety which didn't help his already painful condition. He slowly walked into the Infirmary, Astoria short on his tail. He bit his lip and suppressed a whimper when the pain shot straight to his heart. The pain made him freeze, causing Astoria to bump into his back.

"Are you okay?" She asked, a worried frown on her face.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." He panted. "I'm just, uh...feeling a bit dizzy. But I'm fine." He managed a weak smile.

Astoria did not seem convinced though. "Right. Come on." She took hold of his elbow and as good as dragged him to one of the bed before calling for the nurse.

"Mrs. Tonks is going to take care of you." Astoria told him as she ran a hand through Cygnus's platinum blonde hair.

"What is going on?" The nurse, Mrs. Tonks, asked as she reached Cygnus's bed.

"Just a stomach ache." Cygnus mumbled.

"M. Malfoy, right?" The nurse smiled. "You look a lot like Cissy."

"You know my mum?" Cygnus was surprised. The only one he had heard call his mum Cissy was his Dad, his Uncle Rod, his aunt Bella and Rabi. This woman was probably close to his mother then.

"Mhm." She nodded for emphasis. "She's my sister. Now, let me check on your stomach."

Cygnus nearly gasped in surprise. He didn't know that he had another aunt. He had thought that his mum had only one sister and he didn't understand why she hadn't told him about his other aunt. Before he could say anything, the Nurse, his aunt, drew her wand and mumbled something Cygnus didn't understand. Her wand glowed blue as she waved it above Cygnus's belly.

Cygnus groaned when another wave of pain shot through his stomach, he wanted it to stop. It took several minutes to have any kind of result. The Nurse's hand started to shake and the tip of her wand went from blue to green, and from green to black.

"What is going on?" Astoria asked, her voice was shaking with worry.

"I don't know." The Nurse mumbled, which made Cygnus frown. How couldn't she know? She was supposed to know. She mumbled something else which caused a white light to shot from her wand right into Cygnus's chest. Incomprehensible writing appeared above Cygnus's head, Mrs. Tonks seemed to understand it though.

She gasped and her hand flew to cover her mouth. "Miss Greengrass, could you get out for moment, please? I need to talk to M. Malfoy alone."

"Is he okay?" Astoria's eyes were already shining with unshed tears.

"Please." Mrs. Tonks's voice had turned dead cold which made Cygnus flinch slightly. He didn't know what was going on with him, but he knew that it was bad. It had to be bad or else she wouldn't ask Astoria to get out, right?

"It's bad, right?" Cygnus couldn't look at the Nurse in the eye, if he saw the sadness in her eyes once again, he would start crying and he didn't want to cry. So, he busied himself with playing with the hem of his sleeve.

"You know that you're an Elf, right?" Cygnus nodded. "Well, Elves have mates. Do you know who's yours?"

Cygnus shook his head. "I didn't even know I had one."

"You don't know? Really? You've got no idea? Even the slightest, tiniest idea would be fine." Cygnus sighed and shook his head once again. He knew who he wanted to be his mate but it was just wishful thinking. "Well, we should probably call your parents."

Cygnus looked up this time. "Just tell me, please."

The Nurse sighed once again and sat down next to him. "Well, Elves have a very peculiar way of mating. There is the Mating Night which occurs every month, the second day of the full moon. When you came into your Inheritance, when you became an Elf, you had a month before your first Mating Night. The first is extremely important. Elves have to mate with their Intended or else...well, missing the first Mating Night is fatal. Your first Mating Night was a few days ago and you missed it. Which means you're..condemned. You'll pass away within a month, the pain you're feeling is the result of your lack of mating. Your magic his destroying you from the inside. And given that you don't know who your mate is, he can't save you."

Silent tears ran down Cygnus's cheeks. He didn't want to die. He was not sad for himself, he was not afraid of dying. He was sad because he had just found his family and he would have to leave them again, forever. He didn't want to leave them. They would be sad and he didn't want them to be sad. His parents deserved to be happy. Draco deserved to be happy, he had Blaise and he didn't need Cygnus's death to darken his life. And Rabi. He wished he could have spent more time with him. He cared about him a lot and he was sure that Rabi cared about him too. He didn't want Rabi to be sad once he was gone.

"We should call your parents." The Nurse said, tearing Cygnus out of his thoughts.

"No, it's okay." Cygnus quickly wipped his tears from his cheeks and smiled weakly. "I'll tell them myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Cygnus nodded for emphasis. "I'll just ask the Headmaster to Floo home. Thank you."

Cygnus quickly got up from the bed and nearly ran to the door. He didn't want the Nurse to ask more questions. It didn't matter that she was his aunt, he didn't want her to pry. Astoria was right behind the door and he bumped into her.

"Are you okay?" She asked immediately.

Cygnus took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just some..weird virus. It'll be gone in no time." Astoria was too sweet of a girl, she didn't need to know about Cygnus's upcoming death. So Cygnus decided that he would never tell her.

"Really?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Yes, I swear. No need to worry." He smiled warmly.

"Then why are your eyes all red?"

Damn. "The potions." He answered quickly. "The Nurse gave me some potions to help fight the virus. I must be allergic to it."

She stared at him for endless seconds, trying to find any sign of lie on his face. "Okay then." She said once she was convinced enough. "We should go, classes are about to start."

Cygnus quietly followed her, trying to figure out how to tell his family. He didn't even know if he was going to tell them. Maybe he won't. They had nearly reached their DADA classroom when they bumped into Draco. Cygnus cursed inwardly. He didn't want to have this conversation now.

"Hey. So, how did it go?" Draco asked, a grin on his face.

Cygnus was silent for a moment, looking for something to tell. Should he tell the truth or just lie like he did with Astoria? "Fine. I'm fine. Just a little virus. I didn't really understand what it was but I'll be fine."

Draco was as suspicious as Astoria had been, maybe even a little more but Cygnus managed to smile brightly despite the pain still present in his stomach. It worked and Draco seemed convinced. "Well, I'm glad. I was a little worried it might have been something worse." Draco kissed Cygnus's forehead which made the younger's heart break a little. "Where are you heading?"

"DADA." Astoria answered immediately.

"Alright then. See you during the break?"

Cygnus nodded and smiled again before walking away with Astoria. He had made his decision. They didn't need to know. Any of them. It would only serve to make them sad which Cygnus wanted to avoid above everything else. He wouldn't tell them, ever. He would live his life, as short as it may be, and when he would feel that the pain was becoming too much, he would disappear. He didn't know how yet but he would. He would probably leave a note telling that he had decided to leave and they wouldn't be sad. They didn't need to be sad.

*****CM*RL*****


	17. Chapter 17 - Come To Die

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Fenrir groaned as he woke up, a sun ray hitting him square in the face. He had spent the night outside of the den, the warmth inside it had suffocated him somehow and so he had decided to sleep under the stars. He had been back at the den since the day he had found Bill. Fenrir had decided that in order to keep the Omega safe, he had to take him home with him.

When they had arrived, Fenrir had had a hard time keeping Alec, his beta, away from Bill. Fenrir had known that, like most werewolves, Alec would have had a hard time controlling himself around a newly turned omega but he hadn't expected him to be so...wild. Alec had been a beta, he had been supposed to be strong and old enough to control himself and yet he had nearly ripped Fenrir apart when he had prevented him from coming near Bill. His reaction had not been a normal reaction. And so, Fenrir had been forced to take his life.

Fenrir could have sworn he had heard his heart break when he had seen the life fade away from the last member of his old pack. Bill had kept apologizing after that even though Fenrir had told him countless times that it was not his fault. Alec being dead forced Fenrir to spend the full moon alone with Bill. The Alpha knew how painful the first transformation was, so he had managed to keep his wolf at bay until Bill was fully turned and only then had proceeded to turn himself.

Bill's wolf was small, way smaller than Fenrir's. He was slender and really thin, his fur was a dark and deep red which reminded Fenrir of rust. His pale blue eyes were a bit darker, making his gaze even more intense. All in all, Bill's wolf was darker than Fenrir's silver one. As soon as Fenrir had turned, he had felt this unique and irresistible pull toward his little mate. He had started heading down the path where the scent was coming from but a weak whine had held him back. The red omega was on the floor, exhausted from his transformation and begging for Fenrir to help him. The Alpha knew that he couldn't leave him to fend for himself and join his mate for the night. And so he had let a broken howl out and had gone to Bill's side. They had spent the night scenting each other, Bill offering his neck in submission as he accepted Fenrir as his Alpha and they had simply rested, Fenrir's mind always wandering back to his sweet little mate.

And now, a week later, he was still at the den with Bill. He hadn't had the occasion to go back, he hadn't had the occasion to see his little mate once again.

A foreign scent pulled Fenrir out of his musings. A werewolf. He had never smelt him before and it could only mean one thing, he was here for Bill. He quickly looked around the forest, trying to catch sight of the man. But the forest was dark, except for the occasional sun rays, and empty. He quickly got to his feet and hurried to the den, a few feet away. He knew it had been a mistake to leave Bill alone in the den for the night but the presence of an unmated omega who was not his mate had been too much to bear for Fenrir.

As he got closer to his den, the scent got stronger which could only mean that he had already reached Bill. Fenrir's heart started beating faster, he couldn't let Bill down and let a crazy werewolf mate him against his will. Bill was pack now, and he counted on Fenrir to keep him safe. The Alpha wouldn't be able to forgive himself if Bill was hurt, he had let too many people down before, he couldn't do that again. He couldn't let Bill get hurt like he had done with his previous pack.

His werewolf hearing eventually picked small whimpers coming from the den. Fenrir was ready to kill anyone who had come close to Bill when he entered his den, even if it was a whole pack. He wouldn't allow anyone to hurt his pack again.

"You're coming with me now!" A man snarled.

A whimper. "My Alpha will rip you apart." Despite his whimperings, Bill's voice was full of determination and hatred which he couldn't help but be proud of.

The man laughed. "I see no Alpha here."

Fenrir reached Bill's 'room', ripping the curtain which served as a door. The stranger, a muscular black-headed man, was gripping Bill's hair harshly, forcing him to stand. Fenrir growled deep in his throat. "Let him go."

Bill sighed in relief and managed a small smile as his tears of fright turned into happy tears. "Who are you?" The stranger growled out.

"I'm his Alpha, now let him go or I'll have to force you and then I'm afraid you'll have a few limbs missing."

"I know you, my Alpha warned me about you. You're Greyback, right?" The stranger laughed humorlessly. "You don't deserve an Omega. You killed little children. Yeah, I know about that, about how you killed and turned little wizarding children, that's because of the likes of you that Wizards hate us so much. You're heartless. I wouldn't even be surprised if we discovered that it was you who killed your pack." The stranger snorted. "I thought you had a beta left. Where is he now? Killed him as well, didn't you?"

Fenrir took a deep breath and tried hard to ignore how much the stranger's words hurt him. "Let the Omega go."

"I can't do that. My Alpha wants him and he'll have him. He's more worthy than you are."

"You're not going to take him away. I won't let you." Fenrir couldn't keep the growl out of his voice. His wolf was so close to the surface now that he thought he might turn any moment. He had had to deal with other horny werewolves during the week and a half Bill had spent with him but never before someone had actually managed to come near enough to touch him.

"I'm gonna have to kill you then, because I'm taking him away."

Before Fenrir could comprehend what was happening, Bill elbowed the man into the ribs and crawled to the far corner of the room, leaving room for Fenrir to attack. Fenrir didn't waste any time and hit. He managed to kill the stranger quickly, letting his instincts take over. He spit the blood that had gathered in his mouth from a blow he had taken on the floor and turned to Bill who was curled in on himself.

Bill slowly looked up and then a blur of red flew to Fenrir and crashed into his chest. "I was scared." Bill mumbled as he tightened his arms around Fenrir's waist.

"You're safe now." Fenrir replied as he wrapped his arms around Bill and kissed the top of his head.

*****CM*RL*****

The week passed rather quickly for Cygnus. He managed to keep up appearances despite his increasing stomachaches which had now spread to his head and lungs. Astoria was getting suspicious and he had taken to avoiding Draco more and more. He didn't want him to get suspicous as well but his avoiding him only served Draco to really get suspicious anyway.

He was enjoying the classes. His favorite subjects were Potions and Ancient Runes. Sure, Potions wasn't as good as they were when Uncle Sev was teaching him and Ancient Runes wasn't as good as they were when his Dad was teaching him but it was enjoyable anyway. Astoria had become a great friend and wasn't leaving his side, ever, except when Cygnus wanted to spend a quiet evening with Draco or alone.

Cygnus loved the time he spent in the Hufflepuff common room and the time he spent with his fellow housemates. They were all nice and happy-going. The common room was warm and welcoming, always full of people. The floor was covered in a black carpet and the wall were covered with yellow and black, the occiasional Hufflepuff flag here and there. There was a huge fireplace opposite the door, a few sofas in front of it, allowing people to rest and enjoy the warmth. On the right side, a few desks were lined up, creating a small and cosy studying area and on the left there were two long corridors: one leading to the girls' rooms and the other, the left one, leading to the boys' rooms. Cygnus's room was the fifth one which was kind of logical since he was a fifth year. There was a little wooden door leading to a simple bare room with three beds covered in yellow bedclothes, black curtains around each of them, allowing privacy. Cygnus's bed was the closer to the door, the other two belonged to Bellamy Bellerive, a French pure-blood who had arrived at Hogwarts in his second year, and Cassius Mars, who apparently was Professor Mars's son and a half-blood. Cygnus had grown quite close to them, not as close as he was to Astoria but still.

Cygnus was on his way to dinner on Friday night when he heard strange noises coming from an alcove. He stepped closer and gasped at what he saw. "Draco?"

He regretted speaking up as soon as his brother's name left his lips. He hadn't meant to disturbe them. He had caught Draco and Blaise kissing and they looked like they were enjoying it. Cygnus quickly walked away, hoping that neither Draco nor Blaise had heard him. Strangely enough, when he had seen his brother kissing Blaise, another man's face had flashed through Cygnus's mind, bringing him more pain.

"Cygni, wait!" He heard Draco exclaim as he ran toward him. Cygnus patiently waited for him, he didn't want to talk about what he had seen but it was not nice to ignore people. "About what you saw..." Draco started when he reached him.

"It's okay, I'm not going to tell Mum and Dad." Cygnus smiled. "I'm happy for you though."

Draco chuckled. "Thanks."

"Are you coming to have dinner with me?" Cygnus asked.

"Yes, of course. I'm quite hungry."

"Isn't Blaise going to join us?" Cygnus asked as they began walking.

"No, he had to go to the library."

"Oh, of course and you were preventing him from doing it earlier."

A single, shocked chuckle left Draco's mouth. "I wasn't...preventing him." He protested weakly. "We were...preventing each other."

"Right." Draco couldn't lie and Cygnus found it funny whenever he tried. His mind went back to what he had felt when he had caught his brother kissing another boy. He couldn't quite shake the feeling off of him. It was clinging hard to his chest. "Draco?"

"Mh?"

"Is it bad that I want to do the same?" He asked, his voice no louder than a weak whisper.

"Do what? Kiss Blaise?" Draco laughed.

"No!" Cygnus exclaimed, his eyes wide with horror. How could Draco think that he wanted to kiss Blaise? "Just, kiss another man."

"Why would it be bad? It's perfectly normal. Who told you it was a bad thing?" Draco was frowning now.

"Well, I caught the Dursleys talking once. They were talking about men kissing and uh, they said it was disgusting and that they were going to go to hell...Am I going to go to hell? 'Cause I don't want to."

Draco stopped at once, forcing Cygnus to stop as well. "You're not going to go to hell, ever, okay?" Cygnus nodded. "You can kiss whoever you want. There's nothing bad with men kissing. If they kiss, it means they love each other and nothing is wrong with love, right?"

"Right." Cygnus agreed, relieved to hear that what the Dursleys said was nothing but lies.

"Now," Draco grinned. "who is it you want to kiss?"

"No one; just...I don't know." Cygnus shrugged helplessly. He didn't want to talk about that with Draco. Not now, he would laugh.

"Come on, tell me. There's no one here." He was right, the corridor was empty. "It's just you and me."

"Don't laugh, okay?" Draco nodded in aggreement. "Well, I had a dream last night. It was nice, uh, I was kissing a man and I liked it and then I thought about it when I woke up and well, I realized that I want to kiss him for real." He nervously played with his fingers, avoiding looking at Draco in the eye. "It was, well..I want t-to kiss Rabi." Cygnus was worrying his lower lip, nearly making it bleed. "Don't laugh, please." He pleaded as he hid his head in his hands.

"Why would I laugh?" It made Cygnus look up at once. "It's fine. I can even understand, Rabastan is quite good looking." Draco was smiling warmly which lifted a weight from Cygnus's heart. "Besides, do you want to know a secret?" Cygnus nodded hesitantly and waited for Draco to bend over and whisper into his pointy ear. "I'm sure Rabastan wants to kiss you too."

Cygnus gasped in surprise. He hadn't expected that. "You think?"

"I'm sure." He affectionately ruffled Cygnus's hair. "We'll just have to wait to go home or for him to visit and then you'll get to kiss him."

Cygnus giggled as a deep blush spread from his cheeks to his neck. He would love to kiss Rabi but he knew that it wouldn't happen, ever. He had not enough time left.

The thought of never being able to kiss Rabi brought a whole new wave of pain which made him gasp. He bent over, clutching his chest with one hand and his head with the other. "Cygni!" Draco exclaimed in surprise and horror and fear as Cygnus fell forward into his arms. He gently lowered him to the floor.

Cygnus whimpered and sobbed hard. "Hurts." He felt liquid run from his nose and his ears, it was too warm to be water. An iron-like taste spread into his mouth before liquid ran from the side of his mouth, it was the same as the one that was running from his ears and nose. Blood. "Dray." He sobbed. "I want Mummy and Daddy."

"It's okay." Draco gently picked his little brother and proceeded to lead him to the Hospital Wing as fast as he could. "It's okay. You'll be okay. Just hold on."

A wave of diziness invaded him, causing his head to lull back and forth as he nearly lost conciousness. "I want Rabi, please." He sobbed harder.

He closed his eyes in exhaustion, the pain was tiring him out. He screamed when an excruciating pain flooded his chest. He felt like his organs had imploded. But his scream died on his lips when more blood gathered in his throat and he lost conciousness, falling into a dark, never-ending circle of pain.

*****CM*RL*****

Narcissa was surprised to hear the Floo roar to life. She wasn't expecting anyone so late at night and neither was her husband. She quickly knelt in front of it, expecting some bad news perhaps. Cygnus had been gone to Hogwarts for a week now and she and Lucius were supposed to visit him tomorrow so she was pretty sure that it didn't concern him, besides he was writing to them everyday, if something had come up, he would have said so in one of his letters.

"Narcissa? It's me, Andromeda."

Narcissa raised her chin in defiance. "I have nothing to say to you." She hadn't spoken to her sister for nearly twenty years and she wasn't about to change that now.

"Please, it's important." Andromeda insisted.

"Nothing that's related to you is important." Narcissa snapped.

"It's about Cygnus." That got Narcissa's attention. "You should call your husband."

*****CM*RL*****


	18. Chapter 18 - Regret And Self-Loathing

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Narcissa was nervous. Andromeda had refused to tell her anything over the Floo and so Narcissa had had to call for Lucius. But now they had to wait for Andromeda to come back from wherever she had gone. They were sitting in the Headmaster's empty office, a heavy silence surrounding them.

"I'm sure that Cygni is okay." Lucius said for the third time, trying to reassure his wife the best he could.

"Stop saying that. She wouldn't have called us if everything was fine." Narcissa snapped. She didn't want to let her anger out on Lucius but she couldn't help herself. She was nervous and scared and she lacked informations so she had to let her anger out on someone or else she would blow up. Lucius happened to be the only one present in the room.

A throat was cleared, making Narcissa turn around sharply. "You should come." Andromeda said.

"Just tell us what is happening." Narcissa snapped. She knew that she was on the verge of losing her mind. She was mad with worry and Andromeda refused to tell her anything. It only made Narcissa hate her more.

"Do you have any idea of who Cygnus's mate is?" Andromeda eventually asked as they walked through the stone corridors.

Narcissa frowned and exchanged a look with her husband. She was almost relieved to see that he was as confused as she was. She simply didn't understand what Rabastan had to do with whatever was happening. "Yes, we do."

Andromeda stopped abruptly, and Narcissa thanked her sharp reflexes or else she would have collided right into her back. "Then perhaps you could tell me __why__ the hell they are not mated and your son is dying!?" She snapped, more like yelled in Narcissa's opinion but she was too shocked to make any comments.

The only thing she had managed to comprehend was 'your son is dying'. This couldn't be happening. Those four little words kept echoing tthrough her head on end. She couldn't breathe, her ears were buzzing, Andromeda's and Lucius' voices were muffled, and her world was spining.

"They are mated!" Lucius' strong and strict voice pulled Narcissa out of her shock. "You do not understand, they cannot be unmated. Cygnus spent the night at Lestrange Manor, with Rabastan. We made sure that they were together through the Mating Night."

"Did you make sure that they actually slept together?" Andromeda asked, her voice soft and calm. She looked too calm, unmoved and disinterested. Narcissa wanted to strangle her right then and there. She should care about what was happening, it was her son's life they were talking about.

"No! Of course n-" Lucius cut himself off when he realized that any arguments he could use were invalid. They should have made sure that Cygnus and Rabastan had mated but Lucius had struggled enough to accept that Rabastan was his son's mate and so he hadn't needed confirmation that his son had had intercourse.

"We didn't want to pry." Narcissa mumbled, her eyes staring at the far end of the corridor yet unseeing.

Lucius took hold of his wife's shoulders and shook her slightly, forcing her to look at him. "Cissy." Narcissa blinked a few times and finally looked at Lucius. She had nearly forgot that he was even here. Silent tears ran down her cheeks. "You go with Andromeda, look after Cygnus, and I'll go get Rabastan, alright?"

Narcissa nodded numbly as a sob escaped her lips. She didn't want her son to die. She barely felt Lucius' lips press a loving kiss to her forehead before Andromeda led her away. She dreaded the moment she would see her son, she wouldn't be able to bare seeing him in a dying state.

*****CM*RL*****

Lucius felt rage build up inside of him when he stepped through the Floo and into Lestrange Manor. He had never hated Rabastan Lestrange more than he did now. Everything was his fault. He had known all along that Rabastan wasn't worthy enough to be Cygnus's mate and that he would only get him killed in the end. And he had been right.

Lucius knew that dealing with his pain and worry by being angry was not the solution but he'd rather __Crucio__ someone to death than break down crying his heart out. He needed to be strong for Narcissa and Cygnus, and probably for Draco too. He couldn't break down now.

"Lestrange!" He yelled. He had no time to waste, he couldn't afford to go look for that useless man so he would make him come to him.

A few seconds later, Rabastan came crashing through the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Did you mate with Cygnus?"

Rabastan frowned. "What?"

"Did you sleep with my son!?" Lucius was barely aware that he had pulled his wand out, blinded by anger.

"Wha- No! No, of course I didn't." Rabastan lifted his hands up in surrender, his eyes flashing with fear.

"You- IDIOT!" Lucius threw a stinging hex at him.

"Ow. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Didn't you read about Elves?" Lucius asked. He didn't even know why he took time to ask questions.

"I- I haven't had time...why?" Rabastan's frown deepened, showing how confused he was.

"Just come with me." Lucius said as he went back to the fireplace.

"Where are we going?" Rabastan as he stepped into the Floo alongside Lucius.

"Hogwarts." Lucius said and then they were gone.

*****CM*RL*****

"Would you mind telling me what is going on?" Rabastan demanded as he stepped out of the Floo and into the Headmaster's office. It had been years since he had been here and he hadn't missed it one bit.

Rabastan was lost. He hadn't expected any visitors today, let alone Lucius Malfoy. He was still fairly convinced that the man hated him for catching him sleeping with his head resting on Cygni's hospital bed. They had barely talked since Rabastan had been freed from Potter and Dumbledore and so Rabastan didn't understand the sudden appearance.

He had to admit that he had been slightly scared when he had seen the state Lucius was in, all angry and filled with hatred. Then he had talked about sleeping with Cygni and Elves and Rabastan had been more and more confused by the second. He didn't understand a thing. All he knew was that it involved Cygni.

"Cygnus is an Elf and you are his mate, did you know that?" Rabastan nodded. So Lucius knew about he and Cygni being mates..Rabastan didn't understand why he still hated him then. "Great. He spent a night at Lestrange Manor, the day after the full moon, do you remember that?" Rabastan nodded again. "It was the Mating Night. You were supposed to mate with Cygnus, that's why we let him spend the night with you. We knew he was there, we just pretended we didn't know. But you didn't mate with him and now he's dying."

Lucius' words hit him hard. Pain exploded into his chest and he felt like he had suffered three days under the Cruciatus on end. He felt all color leave his face and he felt like throwing up. He shook his head in denial. "T-This is n-not happening. Y-you're wrong, okay?"

"Yes, this is happening."

"B-But- I didn't know!"

Luciu shook him slightly. "We need you now so no panic attack, alright? Cygnus needs you."

Rabastan nodded quickly. He couldn't let his mate down once again. "Where is he?"

"The Hospital Wing but-"

Rabastan was gone before Lucius could end his sentence. He had no time to waste, he needed to be by Cygni's side. What Lucius had to say didn't matter. All that mattered now was Cygni's safety and well-being. He was out of breath when he passed the Hospital Wing's double doors.

The wing was quiet, so quiet that it was almost deafening. The only thing that could be heard was soft crying. He slowly walked forward, trying to brace himself for what was about to come for he was sure that it wouldn't be pretty.

He caught sight of Draco first, standing next to a ned, softly crying on Narcissa's shoulder. Luckily, or not, they were preventing him from seeing Cygni, giving him a little bit more time to collect himself. Giving the state Draco was in, Rabastan could only guess that Cygni's state was worse than he had imagined.

Narcissa was not crying, which surprised Rabastan. Why was she not crying? Perhaps she had already cried and forbade herself to cry any more so she could comfort Draco. She was that kind of person, she would always put her children first no matter what. Making her family feel better was a priority, soothing her own pain came second.

Rabastan kept walking toward the bed and failed hold back the broken sob that escaped his lips, making both Draco's and Narcissa's head snap toward him. The sight of Cygni wasn't awful per se but knowing it was Rabastan's fault that he was here was enough to make him cry.

Cygni was lying on the bed, the bedclothes reaching his chest and his hands were resting on his belly. He was pale, deathly pale and had deep dark circles under his eyes. He looked like Death itself and yet he looked somewhat peaceful. His chest was raising and falling faintly, the movement barely noticeable, so much so that Rabastan wondered if he hadn't imagined it. He wanted for Cygni to still be alive so badly that perhaps it was only wishful thinking.

"I put him in an artificial coma, he doesn't have much time left." A voice said from behind him but Rabastan couldn't care less who it was. He didn't want to take his eyes away from Cygni, afraid that if he as much as blinked, Cygni would die right in front of him.

Rabastan was barely aware of the tears that flooded his cheeks as he realized that he could have avoided all of that. He could have avoided Cygni suffering so much. All he had had to do was mate with Cygni. He had wanted to, he hadn't been able to admit it to himself back then but he had wanted to. He had wanted to kiss Cygni, and to run his fingers through his silky blonde hair, and to let his hands roam freely on Cygni's unblemished and soft skin. He had wanted to ravish him so badly and make him writhe and moan in pleasure until he reached completion.

It was all his fault. He could've prevented everything from happening and yet he hadn't. He was to blame. He didn't deserve Cygni in his life, the fifteen-year-old would be much better off with someone else as a mate. It was Rabastan's fault that Cygni was dying. He deserved to be tortured to insanity, to death for what he had done to Cygni. Perhaps once he had managed to save Cygni, __if__ he could, he would go back to Potter and let him do whatever he wished with him.

Rabastan sniffled gracelessly and wipped his tears away. He took a deep breath and sat down on the edge of Cygni's bed. He needed to make sure that he hadn't dreamt the faint raising and falling of his chest. He needed to make sure that he was still alive and could still be saved.

He rested his hand on Cygni's chest and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt his heart beat. It was faint, a beat every two seconds, but it was there. He still had time. He noticed that Cygni's breathing was labored, which he hadn't noticed before.

He took hold of one of Cygni's hand and entertwined their fingers together. His heart ached when Cygni remained unresponsive, his fingers slack and cold. He pressed a soft and loving kiss onto his forehead, tears falling again. "I'm sorry." He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against Cygni's own as he sighed in defeat.

He was so caught up in his sadness, and grief, and self-loathing that he didn't notice that Cygni's breathing eased up a little.

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	19. Chapter 19 - Feel Like Living

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Draco stared at Rabastan as he kissed Cygnus's forehead. He couldn't bring himself to look directly at Cygnus. The sight of him bleeding out in his arms kept flashing through Draco's mind. It hurt to see his baby brother in such a state. It wasn't hard for Draco to understand that Rabastan was Cygnus's mate as he saw how miserable Rabastan was once confronted with Cygnus's critical state. And he couldn't help but hate Rabastan a bit for it was partly his fault that Cygnus was dying. He didn't know much about Elves but Professor Dolohov had taken to teaching the seventh years about them since Cygnus's arrival. And so, he now knew about mates and such.

Draco felt tears blur his vision when his gaze absentmindedly drifted off to Cygnus. He didn't want to look but he couldn't help himself, his eyes kept falling on Cygnus's pale face no matter how hard he tried to resist.

His mother had sat down on a leathered chair near Cygnus's bed, the sight of her sick son becoming too much for her to handle, leaving Draco standing there by himself. But Draco couldn't blame her for he knew that if she had kept standing, she would have fell to her knees and sobbed her gentle heart out. He also knew that she was forbidding herself to cry, he knew her well enough to understand that she was doing all this for him. She forbade herself to break down so that Draco could rely on her.

Draco was pulled out of his thoughts by a sob coming from Rabastan. The poor man was watching the one he was supposed to spend his life with fade away right in front of him. He wipped away the blood that was running from Cygnus' nose and then busied himself with combing his silky blonde hair with his fingers. He kept muttering things Draco couldn't comprehend.

Draco couldn't stand the sight of his brother in such a state. He wanted to see him open his vivid gray eyes, he wanted to hear him laugh again, he wanted to listen to him talking as excitedly as used to. He sighed heavily, trying to keep his tears at bay. He was tired of crying, he wanted to forget about the pain, but most of all, he wanted to go back in time. He wanted to go back to the day Cygnus had arrived. He wished he had seen that something was wrong with his little brother. He should have been there for him and not so caught up in Blaise. He quickly whirled around, intending to get out for a moment, to get away from all the sadness that irridiated from his mother and Rabastan. But he collided with a hard chest instead. His eyes only reached the man's chin so he had to look up to meet his eyes. He didn't really need to look up to know who it was though, he already knew. He knew just too well.

Blaise.

He didn't know what happened, what made his mood change all of a sudden but when he finally met Blaise's eyes, he glared daggers at him. The mere sight of his dark-skinned lover made a spark of hatred light in his chest. He hurried past him, bumping his shoulder into Blaise's bicep. In truth, he had wanted to bump into his shoulder but being slightly smaller, he couldn't quite reach Blaise's shoulders with his own. It only made Draco hate him more.

He didn't understand why he was hating Blaise. None of what was happening was his fault, but he couldn't help himself. He quickly walked through numerous corridors, trying to reach the Astronomy tower. It was late in the evening, nearly midnight and he needed air so he figured that the higher he was, the fresher the air would be. He tried to ignore the footsteps that were following him. Couldn't Blaise understand that he wanted to be alone?

He had nearly reached the stairs leading up to the tower when he couldn't take it anymore. "Stop following me!" Draco yelled as he turned sharply around. "Just leave me alone!"

"Drake..." Blaise started.

"No, don't talk. Just shut up and go away." He shoved Blaise away, making him stumble slightly backwards. He knew that he was being absurd but he was just feeling too much and he needed to let some out. "I don't want to see you. It's my fault he's like that. He was sick and I didn't even notice. I was with you instead. He needed me and I barely paid attention to him, all because of you. I hate you." Draco's voice was dripping with venom and he ignored the deep sadness and grief that flashed on Blaise's face, as brief as it was. He didn't want to see it. He was so angry that he didn't even notice the tears flooding his cheeks. "My brother is dying, he was suffering and I was having fun with you. He's going to die and there's nothing I can do about it. Go away now." He shoved Blaise away again. "I wish I never met you." He sobbed out.

Before he could comprehend what was happening, strong arms wrapped themselves around him and he was pressed against a muscled and warm chest. "It's okay, I'm here." Blaise's warmth made him relax at once and anger left him altogether. He finally realized the awful things he had told Blaise and he was filled with regret. He hadn't meant to say that.

"I'm sorry, so sorry." He sobbed into Blaise's chest.

"It's okay." Blaise said, kissing Draco's head and tightening his hold of him. "I love you."

Blaise's voice was soft and gentle and warm and loving, so incredibly loving. Just like a caress. It only made Draco sob harder. He wished that the first time Blaise told him he loved him was different.

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Sirius leaned against the door frame and looked into his room, his eyes shining in awe. Tom was sitting on the bed, rocking a dozing Corvus back and forth in his arms. He was talking quietly, his voice lulling Sirius's son to sleep. He was talking about how he had discovered that he was a Parseltongue when he had found a snakeling at the orphanage he had grew up in. A fond smile appeared on Sirius's face. Tom was so good with Corvus. Sirius came to wish that he was Corvi's father but he quickly shoved the thought away. He shouldn't hope because he would cling to said hope then and he would only get hurt in the end.

Sirius softly cleared his throat to catch Tom's attention. "I didn't hear you come in." Tom said as he looked up from Corvi's sleeping face, a gentle smile on his lips.

Sirius smiled back and went to sit next to Tom. "You're good with him."

"It's not that hard. He's rather quiet and he's never moody. Besides, he's a cute kid, quite loveable." Tom smiled as he kissed Sirius's temple.

"Lucius floo-called." Sirius said, his face pale and emotionless. "He said that Cygnus is in a bad shape and that you should come."

"What did he say to you?" Tom asked.

"It doesn't matter. Cygnus is your Godson, you should go. I'll put Corvi to bed." He took his son from Tom and got up to go to Corvus's bedroom, only to be stopped by Tom's hand on his arm.

"What did he say, Sirius?" Tom insisted, his eyes were hard and murderous but it didn't scare Sirius for he knew that Tom wasn't mad at him.

Sirius's shoulders sagged in defeat. Over the time he had spent here, he got to know Tom well enough to be aware that he wouldn't drop the matter until he got his answer. The man had grown quite protective of he and Corvus, not that Sirius minded though. He rather liked it to be honest. He felt loved for once, Tom had never actually said that he loved him and Sirius was not naïve enough to think that he did but still, it was different from his teenage years. His childhood had been great, his parents loved him, he had a wonderful little brother and he had nothing to complain about, up until age eleven. At eleven, he had entered Hogwarts and everything had went downhill from there.

He had been sorted into Gryffindor, he himself hadn't understood why but he had went with it. His parents had taken it quite badly. They hadn't been mad at him though, only at Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat. Their letter had been kind and loving but then he had told them that he had made friends with Potter and that he had grown quite close to Dumbledore. They hadn't even replied to his letter. Sirius had been hurt but James had been there to support him so he had moved on. Then, he had gone back home for Yule and he had hated it. His parents had been cold and had belittled him every chance they got. Sirius had spent his Yule break crying and faking rebellion in front of his parents. Then he had gone back to Hogwarts and James had been there for him and he had ended up thinking that being with James was better than being with his family.

And then Remus had appeared and had become a good friend. Sirius had felt even more at home with James and Remus at Hogwarts and had loathed his parents even more. He had stopped coming home for Yule breaks and he had taken to spend most of his summer breaks at James's. The little time he spent with his parents and brother was filled with hate and insults. Sirius had kept wishing to go back in time when he was a little boy and his parents loved him, when everything was perfect. But there was no going back.

Then his parents had disowned him and he had felt lower than dirt. He had taken comfort in the fact that he had James and Remus, his best-friends whom he would always love and who would always love him in return. When they had graduated, Dumbledore had asked them to join his Order of the Phoenix and Sirius had agreed, just because James had agreed. Sirius hadn't wanted to lose James so he had went with it even though he didn't really felt like fighting the Dark Side because if he fought the Dark Side, it would mean that he would have to fight against his parents someday, even maybe against his brother and he didn't want that. But James had been home then and so he had sided with him.

But eventually, he had realized that James __was not__ home and that he had never been. He had realized that he, Remus and Dumbledore had taken advantage of Sirius and had fooled him. All that Sirius had been able to think about back then was that there was nothing left for him here and that maybe everything would be better if he just disappeared, ceased to exist. But he had been pregnant back then and he had swore that he would be strong for the little one growing inside him. And then he would take his revenge on Dumbledore and his chickens.

Corvus had become his whole world, the only one he was living for and he needed to keep living for his little one. And so he had went to Tom and he had grown close to Tom. Tom was __home__ now.

"He said that he would deal with me later." Sirius sighed. "I think that he's convinced that I was the one who hurt Cygnus."

"I'll deal with him." Tom said, his voice was so cold that Sirius shivered. He kissed Sirius deep and hard and then he was gone. Sirius couldn't help the giddy smile that made its way on his lips.

__Home__.

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Cygnus woke up slowly, trying to hear what the voices around him were saying. But all he could register was pain, he felt like his entire being, every bit of his skin, muscles, organs, bones, had been lit on fire. He could feel his blood throb in his brain and he had trouble breathing. He was in pain, and he was __hot__. All he could think about was Rabi.

Rabi's pale skin, his wavy brown hair, his strong muscles, his soft yet strong hands, his sharp cheekbones. He couldn't help but wonder if his hipbones were as prominent as his cheekbones. He would love to check. Rabi's dark blue eyes were restlessly flashing on his closed eyelids. Oh, how he loved those blue eyes.

Cygnus's thoughts only served to make him feel hotter and he didn't understand why. He felt soft lips press against his left temple and wave of warmth ran over him. It felt good.

"If you are here to talk about that, just get out." Cygnus heard someone hiss and he recognized the voice as being his father's.

"I'm telling you that he didn't do this." Another voice hissed. He didn't recognize that one.

"Oh? How would you know?" His father again. He heard a small, mocking chuckle. "So just because you are screwing him you think that you know everything about him? He could have tricked you."

"I'm not..screwing him. I'm telling you that Sirius didn't do that to Cygnus so just drop it. Look for the real responsible."

The comforting warmth that had been pressed against Cygnus's side suddenly left him and he felt cold and lonely. "Just shut up, both of you! Cygni is suffering and all you're doing is arguing over petty things." He recognized Rabi's voice and a deep longing filled him, he wanted Rabi to be as close to him as possible. Cygnus noticed that Rabi sounded like he was crying. Why was he crying? Cygnus didn't want him to cry. "We don't care about that, Cygni's dying. You're disgusting, just get out. I don't want you here."

Rabi was sad and angry. Cygnus didn't like it. He wanted him to come next to him and cover him with his warmth. He slowly opened his eyes and whimpered when it caused pain to shot through his head. Rabi was by his side in no time, running his hand through his blonde hair, trying to make him feel better. "It's okay, I'm here." Cygnus opened his eyes once again, he wanted to see Rabi's blue eyes. Cygnus nearly gasped at their intencity, unshed tears making them look even more blue. "Hey." Rabi breathed out when their eyes met, a watery smile appearing on his lips.

The corner of Cygnus's mouth twitched as he realized that he was too weak to even smile back. "Missed you." He sighed. His eyes fell on Rabi's red lips and he wondered how they would taste. His own lips were tingling at the mere thought of Rabi's lips on them.

"I missed you too, Cygni, so much." He kissed Cygni's forehead and the teen nearly moaned as a new wave of warmth flooded his body. "You scared me, you know."

"M'sorry." Cygnus frowned as the heat started to become too much. "M'hot." He didn't understand what was happening.

Cygnus caught sight of his father, he breathed something into Rabi's ear and then left the room with his mother and a man he didn't recognize. Hesitation, regret and sadness flashed on Rabi's face. He looked like he was about to do something he didn't want to. "I'm going to make you feel better, okay?" Cygnus nodded. "I wish it was different. Just don't hate me, okay?"

"Why would I-" Cygnus was cut off when Rabi bent over and he pressed his lips against Cygnus's. The teen was surprised and it took him a few seconds to comprehend what was happening but then, he just couldn't hold back the moan that made his way up his throat. It felt good, too good. He whimpered in protest when he felt Rabi pull away. "Do it again." He begged. It felt good and Cygnus never wanted it to stop. He could understand now why his parents never stopped kissing. It felt good. Cygnus felt like he was walking on a cloud. A whole new heat wave washed over his body and he moaned again. This one was different. The first two had been filled with longing and need. This one was filled with need, craving and pleasure.

He felt Rabi's lips travel down his jaw and to his neck. Rabi bit and sucked and it felt good. Cygnus had never experienced anything like that before, it was heaven. He felt Rabi suck on his collarbone and then he was lost. All he could feel and all that mattered was Rabi and his lips and hands on him. Cygnus was so caught up in the pleasure Rabi gave him that he barely noticed that he was now naked. But he didn't care, all he cared about was Rabi and his equally naked body.

Rabi kept muttering sweet nothings at him but Cygnus was too far gone to even bother trying to understand them. He felt Rabi's hands run down his chest and his ribs to his hips, his mouth following suit. Rabi's mouth closed on his nipple and Cygnus arched up. __It felt good__. He heard Rabi mutter something about him being beautiful but he didn't care. He wanted more. He felt Rabi's tongue dip into the hollow his belly button and then he felt him bite his hipbone which made him gasp.

He felt warmth close in on his most private part and his mind went blank, the only thing he could think about was __pleasure__, __pleasure__, __pleasure__,__pleasure__ and more __pleasure__. He would have never thought that anyone would ever be able to make him feel so good. How wrong he had been. His hips moved on their own accord and Cygnus felt like he had lost control of his own body, his brain wasn't functioning anymore.

He felt Rabi touch him __down there__ and he tensed up for a second and then Rabi's soothing words made him relax. Cygnus sighed in bliss when his organ was back in that sweet and warm cavern, he barely noticed something long and soft enter him. As time passed, Cygnus felt himself being stretched, __it felt good__, and then it was gone. The warmth on his sex left and he felt empty before something bigger entered him and he yelped in surprised. It hurt, but __it felt good__. Rabi's mouth was back on his own and all thought of pain left him. All he could think about was __pleasure__. Cygnus felt like he and Rabi were one and he had never experienced something better. Cygnus's body moved in sync with Rabi's and __it felt good__. Cygnus kept asking for more, he needed more. He wanted to feel that way until the day he died.

The teen felt warmth gather in his belly and he ached for __something__. He clung to Rabi as the man peppered down kisses on his face, rambling about Cygnus being beautiful and oh so sweet. Before he could comprehend what was happening, Cygnus's mind went blank and he was left screaming Rabi's name and gaping for air as he reached his peak.

Cygnus panted heavily as he came down from his high and he felt warmth flood his insides. __It felt good__. Rabi collapsed on him, his forehead resting on Cygnus's and panting as heavily as the teen. Cygnus kissed Rabi's nose and smiled contentedly before being pulled into a soul-sucking kiss.

He had never felt so alive.

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	20. Chapter 20 - Deliverance

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Cyngus slowly woke up, feeling warm, comfortable and whole despite the slight ache in his backside. He kept his eyes closed in an attempt to enjoy this wonderful feeling fully. He didn't want it to end. Whomever made him feel that way deserved a huge thanks for no one had ever succeeded in making him feel so fully and utterly complete. But his brain was so fuzzy that he couldn't remember what had happened before he fell asleep. He remembered the pain, the blood, the longing but then it was all a blur, no matter how hard he tried to remember.

Cygnus opened his eyes very carefully, hoping to catch sight of anything that would tell him what had happened. But the only thing he saw was the Hospital Wing's white walls. He was back here then and most importantly, he was still alive. Was it because of something the Nurse gave him in an attempt to save him that he didn't remember? Probably. Then he noticed that he was all alone. He was a little put out that his family had not come to see him but he quickly shoved the thought aside when he caught sight of what he was wearing; a pair of black briefs and an over-sized gray shirt. Clearly that shirt wasn't his own. A small frown appeared on his face, ruining his peaceful and content expression. How did he end up dressed that way?

He slowly got up from the bed, wanting to walk to the mirror that was not far from his bed. The tiniest movement sent pain shooting through his entire being, making him whimper and fall back on the bed. He wanted to know what had caused him to feel such pain in his backside. Deep down inside, he knew what caused such pain but he didn't want to admit it. Besides, the Dursleys weren't even here and no one else would be cruel enough to do that to him, right? And when Vernon did __that__ to him, the pain was worse, way worse anyway.

Cygnus got up again, determined to take a look at himself, and walked to the mirror, ignoring the soft pain running through him. He was used to pain anyway. A soft smile graced his lips when he finally got a glimpse of himself; his hair was slightly messier than usual, his lips were redder and his eyes were shining. He looked healthy and was positively glowing. He looked happy.

Cygnus's eyes rested on the reflection of his ears. He had grown accustomed to them and he had grown to love them even. He couldn't imagine himself having normal ears anymore. They made him look more graceful and he loved that. Eventually, he caught sight of deep dark mark on his neck, poking out of the shirt and he couldn't for the life of him remember how that mark had appeared. He quickly took the shirt off, wanting to look at his mark without it being in the way. Cygnus gasped when he realized that it looked like a bruise. Had someone hit him? On the neck? That was weird. Cygnus had never been hit on the neck before. He gasped again when he caught sight of another bruise on his right hipbone, poking out of his black briefs. Tears welled up in his eyes, he had thought that the beatings had ended when he had left the Dursleys but it looked like he had been wrong. Someone had beat him again and he hated that someone.

His gaze went up his belly and up his chest until it fell on other, blacker marks. They were right above his heart and looked like they were letters, forming two distinct words. Tears fell down his cheeks in waves when he read them:

Rabastan Lestrange.

The letters were pitch black and formed elegant loops that were entangled together. Cygnus couldn't deny that it was beautiful but it was awful at the same time. Had Rabi carved it into his chest? No, it was too black to be scars and it looked like it was merely written on his skin. He tried to rub it away. He rubbed hard until his skin was beat red, in vain. A broken sob escaped his lips. It was probably a tattoo then.

He had seen Dudley come back home with one when he was fourteen. He had heard Vernon and Petunia talk about how a tattoo was ink incrusted into the skin and how a tattoo could never go away.

Did Rabi want him to be marked forever then? Did he want him to have his name on his chest like some mark of ownership? Sure, Cygnus loved Rabi, he thought he did at least, but he didn't want it to be like this. He wanted love, the same love that his dad felt for his mum or the same love Blaise felt for Draco. He didn't want for Rabi to __own__ him, just like Vernon had thought he did.

Cygnus ran back to his bed as a particularly loud sob escaped him. He was too preoccupied to care about the pain in his backside now. All he could think about was the sadness and betrayal burning in his chest. He had thought that Rabi was different. He couldn't have been more wrong.

He pulled the bedclothes over his head and curled in on himself, crying his heart out. He didn't want to see anyone. He wanted to be alone for hours, days, months. He never wanted to see anyone ever again. He was tired of hurting. He wanted it to stop. Perhaps if he just stayed here he would swiftly fade away. Perhaps it would even be painless. He was just so tired.

Cygnus didn't know how long he stayed that way, crying and alone. He was about to fall asleep, his shoulders still shaking with silent sobs, when he heard a door open. He sighed. He didn't want anyone to be here. Couldn't they just leave him alone?

"Are you awake?" A deep but gentle voice asked. It was awfully close to Cygnus's head and the teen felt the matress dip. He didn't want __him__ to be here. Rabastan's presence only made Cygnus cry harder. Had he come back to take Cygnus to his Manor and never let him out again? Cygnus had lived that way before and he never ever wanted to experience that again. He needed people. He needed his dad, his mum, Draco and Blaise. Why hadn't they come to save him yet? Had they allowed Rabi to do __that__ to him?

"Are you crying?" Rabi asked. Cygnus heard the despair and worry in Rabi's voice and he fought back the urge to reassure him. He cursed himself inwardly instead. He shouldn't have wept, Rabi wouldn't have seen him move then and he would have simply thought that Cygnus was still sleeping.

"Why did you do that to me?" Cygnus sobbed out.

He wished he could go back in time. He wished he could go back to the time when everything was well, when Rabi was kind and funny and when Cygnus could love him without his heart hurting. Everything had been much simpler back then even though it had not been so long ago. And he had been __happy__ back then.

"Cygni...I'm so sorry. I know it doesn't make up for it in any way but I-I needed to do it. I did it to save you. I couldn't lose you..." Rabi mumbled pathetically.

Cygnus suddenly pulled the covers away from his face and his eyes met Rabi's teary ones. He frowned. "You did that to save me? When exactly did you think that marking me would save me?"

Cygnus had never been angry before. Well, he had but he had always kept it inside. He would have never dared to yell at Vernon and Petunia or even Dudley. And yet he had just yelled at Rabi. His voice sounded odd even to his own ears. He nearly apologized when he saw Rabi recoil in surprise.

"What are you talking about?" Rabi asked, frowning in confusion.

Rabi's confusion made Cygnus's determination and anger flatter slightly. "I'm talking about that." He pointed at the black words on his chest.

Rabi's jaw fell when he looked at it. He was genuinely taken aback. "I didn't-" He trailed off and sighed. "Do you remember what happened last night?" Cygnus merely frowned and shook his head. "I didn't do that to you."

The teen's frown deepened and he sat upright, wipping his cheeks dry. "What happened then?"

Rabi sat a bit closer to Cygnus and strangely enough, all the teen wanted to do was crawl and go sit on his lap. But he fought back his urge and went to sit on the edge of the bed, farther away from the tempting man, ignoring the hurt that crossed his face.

"Well, you're an Elf and Elves have mates. You knew that, right?" Cygnus nodded. Of course he knew; the Nurse had told him. "Well, I'm yours." Cygnus gasped. He had wished but he would have never thought that it would ever be true. "We mated last night. That's where my name is from and well, the hickeys too, I guess. You would have died if we hadn't. I'm sorry if you didn't want to, really, I just-"

"No, it's okay." Cygnus cut him off. "I- Well, I wanted it to be you anyway." He mumbled, a deep blush spreading on his cheeks.

"Really?" A small smile appeared on Rabi's face, and his eyes were shining. It was a sight to behold. Cygnus nodded. "You're blushing." Rabi chuckled.

Cygnus whined and hid his face in his hands. It was embrrassing. He was blushing way too easily, even more so when Rabi was here. All of his previous anger had left him. He wasn't so much against the idea of he and Rabastan being mates, not now that he knew that Rabi hadn't hurt him and still loved him. He rather liked it actually. Truthfully, he regretted not remembering. He wanted to remember their night together.

"No, don't hide yourself." Rabi said. He grabbed Cygnus's face and forced him to reveal himself. "You're cute when you blush."

Cygnus felt his blush deepen and he failed to comprehend how it was even possible. "Stop it." He whined.

"I love it when you blush." Rabi said, kissing his cheek, trying to kiss the blush away. "I brought you some breakfast." He retrieved a tray, stuffed with food, that he had left on the nightstand and put it on Cygnus's lap.

Cygnus smiled gratefully. "Thanks." Another blush stained his cheeks. His heart filled with warmth and happiness. No one had ever bothered bringing him breakfast to bed before and here Rabi was, doing just that. No one had ever bothered taking such good care of him. Well, his parents had but that was different.

Cygnus examined the different foods, his mouth watering and his stomach growling at the sight. There were some scrambled eggs, grilled French loaf with butter, a bit of coffee, a glass of pumpkin juice, a few slices of bacon and two French croissants. The teen looked up at Rabi -who had sat down on a chair near the bed- when he saw the French croissants. How had he guessed?

"Draco told me you liked them so I thought..." He trailed off.

Cygnus couldn't help the silly grin that appeared on his lips. His heart swelled with happiness, Rabi was so caring. "Thanks. I love them."

"You're very welcome." Rabi answered with a matching grin.

Cygnus was about to dig in when he realized that Rabi was just sitting here, not eating anything and just looking at him. "Would you, uh, would you like some?"

"I already ate but thank you." Rabi's eyes were shining, matching his sparkling smile.

"Oh." Cygnus sighed. He had kind of hoped that Rabi would have come to sit next to him, __closer__. "You could- You could come sit here you know." He suggested awkwardly.

Rabi's smile turned sweet with a hint of extreme happiness. He crawled over to the bed and slid under the covers, his shoulders brushing Cygnus's naked one. The teen wished he had put the gray shirt -which he now realized was probably Rabi's- back on for it was embarrassing to be in such a state of undress even if it was in front of his mate.

Cygnus started to eat, trying to ignore Rabi's eyes on him. Then, it finally sank it. Rabi had told him that they had mated last night. Cygnus might be only fifteen but he was not naive, he knew what mate meant. They had had sex. But Cygnus didn't understand. Vernon had forced him to have sex before, __often__. And Cygnus had hated it. He hated sex. Sex was meant to punish and hurt people. And so he didn't understand why Rabi had forced him to have sex.

His thoughts made Cygnus freeze with his fork midway to his mouth. He needed to ask. "We're mates, right?"

Rabi frowned slightly, Cygnus's change of behavior worried him. "We are."

"So we're supposed to love each other, right?" Rabastan merely nodded. "Do you? Love me I mean."

Rabastan's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He had not expected that. "Yes. Yes, I do."

Cygnus nodded absentmindedly as though trying to assimilate this last bit of information. "Why did we have sex then?"

Rabi's eyebrows reached his hairline, his surprise at its peak. "Well...Because you needed it. And people who love each other have sex, Cygni. Well, it works only if you love me, that is."

"No, you're wrong. Sex is bad. It's to punish freaks and it hurts. Was I bad again?"

Rabi choked on his saliva at Cygni's words. "Who told you that?"

"No one." Cygnus replied quickly, turning his attention back to his food.

"Cygni, look at me." He gently grabbed Cygnus's chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing the teen to look at him. "Who told you that?"

Cygnus sighed. "No one told. He-He made me." Cygnus mumbled, casting his eyes downward, unable to meet Rabi's eyes anymore. He didn't want him to know that he was tainted.

Rabastan was boiling inside. He didn't need to be a genius to understand what Cygnus had implied. He wanted to know who had done that to his little swan so he could torture them to death and make them wish they were never born. But that was a matter for another time, right now he needed to reassure his little love. He took a deep breath. He needed to remain calm and not scare Cygni any further. "What he did to you was not normal, Cygni." He said gently and Cygni looked up, clearly surprised. "People make love when they love each other and that's it. Sex is to happen between two people who are in love. It is to show love. It's not supposed to be forced or to hurt. Do you understand?" Cygnus nodded. "What he did to you was not right. He should have never done that."

Cygnus nodded in understanding. "So I was not bad then?"

"No, you were not."

"Oh." Cygnus smiled slightly. "I knew you wouldn't hurt me. Well, it hurts a bit but it's not that bad. I feel good."

"And you should always feel that way."

Cygnus thought about what Rabi had just revealed to him. He knew that what Vernon had done to him had been wrong but he had put up with it because first, he didn't want to die and then, he had thought it was a common punishment. He would have never thought that sex could be a good thing. But Rabi had told him so and he trusted Rabi. He wouldn't lie to him.

Cygnus leaned against Rabi's side, relishing his mate's warmth. He was glad to have such a mate. He kissed Rabi's jaw, just because he knew he could. "I feel bad for not remembering."

"I'm sure you will eventually. You probably just need time." He kissed the top of Cygni's head which made the teen hum in pleasure. He had never felt so content before. He grabbed a French croissant and started eating again. He never wanted the morning to end. He and Rabi still had a few things to talk about but it could wait. He just wanted to relax now.

He eventually realized what the situation entailed. He had a mate. A __mate__, a real mate, his own. A mate who would always love him. Said mate being Rabi was a most that he would never complain about. He would have never thought that he would get to find his mate, and his blooming feelings for Rabastan had seemed to be an obstacle. And he had been dead set on dying. But here he was, in his mate's arms, in __Rabi__'s arms. He wouldn't trade it for anything.

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Draco woke up to an awful headache which made him groan pitifully. He didn't remember what had happened but he wished it hadn't, he wouldn't feel such pain then. He rolled around and cursed when he collided with a warm body. He slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by Blaise's dark chest. He looked further up and a smile graced his lips when he saw his face slackened with sleep. He looked so peaceful. He couldn't help the self-loathing that ached in his chest when he remembered what he had told his lover the night before. He hated himself for losing his cool and letting his anger out on Blaise but he had been so scared for Cygni. He shot up in bed when he realized that he had left his baby brother for a long time.

"Wha' 're you doin'?" Blaise mumbled in his sleep.

"I'm going to see Cygni, just go back to sleep." Draco said softly, kissing Blaise's cheek. It was Saturday morning and he wouldn't deprieve his sweet lover of his sleep.

He quickly got dressed, eager to see his brother and well, hoping that he was still alive. His heart constricted at the mere thought. He couldn't bear it. He nearly ran out of the room and through the castle. The Hospital Wing was far away from the Dungeons and he had no time to waste.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that, in his haste, he didn't notice that someone was rounding the corner and he collided hard with them, sending both he and Draco flying backward and lending on their arse. Draco heard a loud cursing and looked at the person he had collided with. Ronald Weasley. He cursed inwardly. He should have paid attention to his surroundings. He shouldn't even have been running anyway. __Malfoys did not run__. He most certainly was not in the mood to deal with Weasley. He had other things to take care of, Cygni needed him.

Ronald Weasley had been nothing but a pain in the arse since the day he arrived at Hogwarts. The lot of __them__ were a pain in the arse, the worst being Ronald and Ginevra Weasley, the mudblood Granger and Daniel Potter. They had a knack of putting Draco and his friends on edge. They always seemed to want to get into a fight. And Draco was not in the mood for a fight right now.

"Sorry." He mumbled as he got up. It hurt his feelings to apologize to a scum such as Weasley but he was ready to make this sacrifice to get away faster, for Cygni.

"Wait, Malfoy." Weasley called as he too got up, forcing Draco to turn around and face him because __Malfoys did not flee from a confrontation__. "Was that an apology?" Weasley asked, smiling smugly.

Draco sighed. "It was."

"Well, it didn't seem quite sincere to me. Do it again." He demanded.

"I'm not apologizing again, Weasley." Draco snapped as he started to walk away. "I don't have time to waste with you." He called after him.

"Don't you dare walk away from me, Malfoy!" Weasley yelled.

Draco could bet that the red-head's face was crimson with anger but he didn't bother turning around to face him and kept walking.

"Coward!" He heard Weasley yell and he couldn't take it anymore. Malfoys were a lot of things but they were __not__ cowards.

"You-" He started as he whirled around. But he froze when he noticed that Weasley had drawn his wand, and was pointing it right at him. Before Draco could reach for his own, he heard Weasley mumble a Cutting Curse and a bright light hit him right in the chest. He went flying into the stone wall and heard more than felt his skull crack before he was engulfed by darkness.

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	21. Chapter 21 - Still Here

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Blaise yawned and stretched as he woke up. He frowned when he felt the bed with his hand, hoping to feel Draco lying here, and realized that the mattress was cold. There was still a hint of Draco's body warmth but it was very faint. Blaise sighed and reluctantly got up and hastily dressed up. He needed to find him, they needed to talk about what had had happened yesterday. The sooner they talked, the better.

He left their room and wandered the halls, praying to find his lover soon. He ended up walking toward the Hospital Wing, thinking that maybe he had gone to see his little brother. He sped up as dread blossomed in his chest. He failed to understand why he felt that way but he just __knew__ that something was wrong. He ignored every person he passed on his way and didn't even bother apologizing to Pansy as he bumped into her. He rounded yet another corner and froze.

It took him some time to comprehend what was happening right in front of him. It finally sunk in and he saw __red__. There, in the middle on the suspiciously empty corridor, was his lover, his perfect little lover. He was in a heap on the floor, flushed against the wall, his eyes closed. A large puddle of crimson blood was forming around his head, staining his blonde hair, pouring from a wound Blaise couldn't see and from his mouth and nose. One Ronald Weasley was standing over him, threateningly pointing his wand right at his heart.

"What are you doing!?" Blaise yelled, making Weasley jump in surprise. Without even realizing what he was doing, he flew at the red-head and attacked, with bare hands. He felt his fist collide with Ron's face and it felt like he was watching the scene from another's point of view. He saw Weasley on the floor, himself straddling him and his fist hitting him square in the face, __restlessly__. He saw Weasley bleed, profusely, and lose consciousness but he couldn't stop hitting him. It was like his body didn't belong to him anymore, he couldn't control it. He didn't even feel the tears of anguish streaming down his face.

He was pulled out of his trance by an horrified shriek. Blaise froze, his fist halfway from hitting the red-head's face once again, and took a moment to really look at the scene before him. Weasley was unconscious, his face so smashed up that he was barely recognizable. Blaise's hands were bloody red and he was pretty sure that he had broken a bone or two, they were shaking madly either from anger or horror, he didn't know.

He couldn't believe what he had just done. He was not a violent person, he hated violence actually and yet he had just beaten Ronald Weasley bloody. He failed to understand why he hadn't just pulled his wand out instead of hitting him with his hands. He felt like a barbarian. He turned toward the little girl who had screamed, a Raven who looked to be in her first year. Blaise sighed heavily. "It's okay. He's fine, just... go back to your common room, okay?"

A small whimper escaped her lips as Blaise stood up and she shakily nodded her head. She was terrified. He watched her run away and suddenly remembered __why__ he had beaten Weasley up. __Draco__. He had been so caught up in his anger that he had completely forgotten about his injured lover. He quickly whirled around and a sob escaped his lips as his gaze fell on Draco once again. He gently picked him up and nearly cried his heart out when he noticed that he was awfully limp in his arms.

"It's okay. You're gonna be okay. Don't you dare die on me, Draco."

The foolish words poured out of his mouth on their own accord, he didn't even know whether his lover was still breathing or not. He wasted no time and ran to the Hospital Wing.

*****CM*RL*****

Cygnus looked up at his dozing mate as a low moan left his lips. The teen giggled and kissed his mate's naked chest, without ever ceasing to circle one of his dark nipples with the tip of his finger and relishing the feeling of Rabi's fingers through his hair. Right after Cygnus had finished his breakfast, Rabi had decided to get lazy and had lied down in bed, taking his shirt off to get more comfortable but Cygnus couldn't bring himself to complain. He loved cuddling with his mate.

The longer he thought about it, the more used to it he became. He could clearly picture himself spending the rest of his life with Rabi, just the two of them, forever. He sighed happily.

"Stop doing that." Rabi whispered, still not opening his eyes.

"Why?"

"'Cause I think you're too sore for another round." He said matter-of-factly, a smirk on his face.

"Oh." Cygnus mumbled, blushing madly. He hadn't thought about that. "Right. Sorry, I'll stop."

Cygnus blushed at the mere thought of what he and Rabi had done last night. He was sure that his blush was spreading to the tip of his toes. He couldn't believe that they had made love. He forced himself to believe that it had been a good thing and not made to punish him but he still had some trouble. And so he decided that, for the time being, making __love__ was different from having __sex__, extremely different. He and Rabi made love, they did __not__ have sex.

Everytime he thought about sex, he couldn't help the image of Vernon hovering over his naked self from flashing through his mind. He shuddered, self-loathing gripping his guts at the mere thought of him allowing Vernon to do __that__ to him during all those years. Well, he had not really allowed him to do it, Vernon had more like forced himself on Cygnus but the teen still felt dirty, used and __tainted__. He couldn't quite comprehend why Rabi bothered with him and __how__ he could stand being so close to him while he was nothing but a foul shell. Vernon Dursley had ruined him, marked and stained his body with his filthy fluid, so much so that Cygnus could still feel it on and in his body.

The teen felt his eyes water alarmingly fast. "I need a shower." He mumbled, his voice wavering slightly. He __needed__ to wash Vernon away from his skin. He __needed__ to cleanse himself for Rabi.

"Are you okay?" Rabi asked as Cygnus stood up.

Cygnus mutely nodded, not daring to look at Rabi in the eye. He didn't want him to see him crying but most of all, he didn't want to see the look of pity that he was sure he would find in the man's beautiful blue eyes. He hurried to the end of the Hospital Wing, near the nurse's office and pushed a little door, opening on a tiny bathroom. Astoria had told him about it on his first day, he would have never thought he would ever need it but here he was. There were only a large shower, large enough for three people at least to fit in and a small sink. He turned the water on, the hotter he could, and swiftly got rid of his clothes. He didn't even realize that he was fully sobbing now. He wasted no time and got under the shower head, hissing at the feeling of the boiling hot water on his sensitive skin. It was so hot that it only took half a second for his pale skin to turn a deep red.

He found a sponge, which was more like a scraper than anything, resting on a tiny shelf and got to work. He poured a bit of soap on the scraper and scrubbed, scrubbed __hard__. He needed it to go away. He needed Vernon to go away. He could almost see the remains of what he had gone through on his skin. He needed it to go away. It nearly looked like a veil covering his whole being and it didn't want to go away. But he needed it to go away. For Rabi. He couldn't believe that he had let Rabi touch him or that he had dared to touch Rabi while he was so filthy. What if he had infected Rabi with it? He didn't want to make Rabi as filthy as he was. He deserved better than that. He deserved a better mate. He deserved better than Cygnus.

Cygnus didn't deserve such a perfect mate as Rabi. Rabi was everything he could have ever wished for. He was funny, gentle, loving, caring, selfless, perfect, flawless. He deserved to find someone who was not tainted.

The teen kept scrubbing his skin, never stopping even when he was blinded by his tears, he scrubbed blindly, never noticing the blood pouring out of his skin. He scrubbed and cried and scrubbed and cried and scrubbed until his tears made him so weak he couldn't stand anymore. He let himself slide against the wall and curled in on himself on the cold floor, under the boiling water. He sobbed his gentle heart out, hoping to be somewhere, anywhere else, somewhere Rabi couldn't ever find him so that he wouldn't be able to hurt the stunning man ever again.

"Oh Cygni..." He heard a soft voice sigh and he sharply looked up, only for his eyes to fall on Rabi. He sat down on the wet tiled floor and didn't complain as he was hit by the boiling hot water square on the face. He pulled Cygnus onto his lap but it only made Cygnus cry harder. He didn't deserve to be cuddled. He didn't want Rabi to touch him. He didn't want Rabi to get infected.

"Stop." He sobbed out. "Don't touch me. Please."

"Cygni-" Rabi started.

"No, don't touch me, don't touch me. Don't do that, please. I don't want you to touch me." Cygnus continued.

Rabi slowly pulled away, surprise, horror and deep sadness flashing in his eyes. "But... Did I do something? If I did I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Rabi rambled, Cygnus couldn't stand the look on his face. He didn't want to make Rabi sad.

"No, you don't understand." Cygnus cut him off. "You can't touch me." Rabi frowned deeply. "If you touch me, you- you'll get nasty too." Cygnus was back to sobbing, so much so that he didn't know whether Rabi could understand him or not. "I don't want you to get dirty."

Rabi's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Wait, wait, wait. What are you talking about?"

Cygnus sniffled. "Get out, please." He reached for his scraper which he had let go of when he had sat down on the floor. "I need to get clean." He started to scrub again, nearly forgetting about Rabi being here.

"Cygnus, stop." Rabi exclaimed, snatching the scraper from Cygnus's hand.

"No, you don't understand. Give it back. I need to get clean." Cygnus protested, trying to reach out for the scraper.

"Cygnus, stop it. You're clean, there's no need to scrub more. You're bleeding already."

"No, I'm not clean. I'm dirty, so dirty. I can feel it, it's everywhere. On my face, on my chest, on my belly, on my back, on my legs, inside me. I didn't clean inside. I __need__ to clean inside." He desperately tried to reach for the scraper once again.

"Cygnus, stop!" Rabi yelled, trying to knock some sense into the Elf as tears started to fall down his cheeks. "Listen to me, you're clean. There's nothing on your skin, little one. Just stop, please. You're hurting yourself."

Cygnus didn't want to listen. He __knew__ that he was dirty. It didn't matter that Rabi couldn't see it, he knew it was there. "I can feel it, I need to clean myself. I can feel him on my skin. Please, let me clean myself." He sobbed out.

"Stop doing that to yourself. You're clean, I swear you're clean. You need to stop or you'll make yourself bleed to death. Please, stop hurting yourself." Rabi tried to reason with the little Elf but it just didn't seem to work as he kept reaching for the scraper. "I'm sorry, Darling." Rabi mumbled as he pulled his wand which had been lying in his boot and knocked Cygnus out.

Rabastan picked his Elf up and covered him with a fluffy white towel before carrying back to bed. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had barely had time to register what his little Elf had told him. He was too preoccupied by his mate's wellbeing. But as he pulled the bedclothes over Cygni's lithe frame, it finally sank in. He had felt dirty because someone had touched him. He needed to know who had dared to harm his gentle little mate. Whomever had made him suffer deserved a painful death. He could hardly believe that someone had dared to do that to his little Elf. He would need Cygnus to tell him more about what had happened but he was too weak and delicate to talk about that now or even in the upcoming days, weeks.

He lovingly kissed Cygni's forehead. "I'm here to protect you now, Love."

He jumped when he heard the Hospital Wing's double doors burst open, slamming hard against the walls. "Help! Please, please, I need help!" Someone yelled.

Rabi turned around and his gaze fell on a sobbing dark-skinned young man who was carrying a bleeding Draco Malfoy.

*****CM*RL*****

Sirius sighed as he sat on the couch, leaning against Tom's warm frame. They had all gathered in the Headmaster, Amycus's office; himself, Tom, Lucius, Narcissa, Severus, Regulus and Bellatrix. They had decided to come here early in the morning just so that they could be here to talk to Cygnus as soon as he and Rabastan woke and also that they could all talk about the fact that Dumblefuck's children were all here, attending the school. They weren't supposed to be here.

"Tired?" Tom asked as he wrapped his arm around Sirius's shoulder.

Sirius nodded mutely. Corvus had been restless all night long and so Sirius had barely managed to close his eyes for a whole hour. The almost-two-months old was currently peacefully sleeping in the crook of Sirius's arm.

"You're so cute." Regulus cooed from his place on the chair opposite them. "A cute little family already." He stood up and came to sit next to Sirius. "He's so cute. I can't believe I'm an uncle." He ran his finger down Corvus's cheek.

The baby began to stir in his sleep and wrinkled his tiny little nose. "Don't do that, you'll wake him." Sirius scolded weakly. "I had a hard enough time to get him to fall asleep already."

"Sorry, __Daddy__." Regulus said mockingly before laughing softly.

"I hate you. I hope that little one won't be as annoying as you are. I hope he-" Sirius cut himself off to think about what he was going to say. He couldn't believe he had been about to say that. "No, I was going to say that I hope he has Severus's personality but no, I hope he doesn't have Snivellus's personality. Why did you two decide to get together and have a baby again?"

"Don't call him that." Regulus weakly scolded him while Severus snorted.

"What are we waiting for again?" Lucius asked as he grew rather impatient.

"Amycus." Tom answered. "From what I gathered there was an emergency and he was needed in the Hospital Wing. He'll be here in a moment."

"Have you ever thought about it?" Regulus whispered at Sirius, hoping for the conversation to remain between the two of them only.

"About what?" Sirius asked, Regulus's question had come out of the blue and he had not been prepared at all.

"About Father's death." Regulus's eyes flashed with a deep and profound sadness.

"Once or twice. Why do you ask?" Sirius failed to understand why he was talking about their father's death all of a sudden. They had never talked about it. Sure, they had only found themselves a few days ago but still.

"Don't you find it weird?"

Sirius frowned deeply. Their father had died, yes, but there was nothing weird about dying. "Why would I find it weird?"

"Well, he was perfectly healthy before he died and I know that you always thought that he was a heartless bastard but he was not. And you __knew__that he was strong. He was healthy and one day I woke up and he was dead. I can't stop thinking about it. It's been eighteen years and it's still haunting me. Besides, Mother thought it was weird as well."

"What are you saying?" Sirius was lost.

"Well, I made some research a few months ago. I never talked about it." They were so caught up in their whispered conversation that they didn't even notice that everyone was listening to them. "Well, Father had kept it hidden, I don't think even Mother was aware of it but, he was an Elf."

"W-What?" He had not seen it coming. "Are you saying that you think Father was murdered?"

"I don't think he was murdered, I know it." There was such a determination in Regulus's eyes that Sirius couldn't bring himself to contradict him.

He was about to question him further about his research when the door of the office burst open, revealing a crazed looking Amycus. "You need to come with me." He told Lucius and Narcissa. "It's Draco, he's injured. It's not good."

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	22. Chapter 22 - Mourning

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"Are we going now?" Bill asked, anxiously biting his lower lip.

"Don't you want to? The sooner we go, the sooner you get your brother back." Fenrir replied, a small smirk on his face.

"Yes. Yes, of course. I'm just nervous, I guess." A nervous chuckle escaped Bill's lips as he stood up from his seat on a rock.

"It'll be okay. You have to think about your brother waiting for you at home and you two will be reunited in no time." Fenrir smirked again and ruffled Bill's hair. "Now, are feeling up to Apparating us to your house?"

Bill nodded mutely, a small weight lifting from his shoulders at the thought of Charlie waiting for him. Fenrir surely knew how to comfort someone. He would have never thought so from the Alpha. He had always believed the stories his parents used to tell him about the cruel and heartless Fenrir Greyback, the one who turned people and ate children for fun. Bill had grown rather close to his Alpha during the days they had spent together and he had come to the conclusion that those stories were nothing but awful lies. Sure, his Alpha was not one to show his emotions but Bill could see that he cared about him, he merely showed it in his own, peculiar way. Hell, he had even killed his beta just to save him. Bill had to admit that he had never felt safer than with Fenrir.

Bill gripped his Alpha's arm so hard that he was sure he would leave a large bruise but Fenrir didn't seem to be bothered. He took a deep breath and Apparated. They landed in the barn near the Burrow and Bill let out a shaky breath.

"You should wait here." He told his Alpha. "Maybe they won't feel threatened if it's just me."

Fenrir frowned but seemed to consider it. "Alright. You go first but if you're not back in ten minutes, I'll come get you."

Bill nodded hastily and took off before Fenrir could change his mind. He stopped in front of the door and took yet another deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. He heard voices coming from inside and stood still and listened.

"How do you know?" Arthur asked.

"Albus told me yesterday night, it's working." Molly replied.

"Are they safe at least?" Percy asked.

"Of course they are. Ron and Ginny got into Hufflepuff, closer to the little brat. Nothing could go wrong." Molly said, a small laugh leaving her lips.

Bill lifted his hand up to open the door when he heard the cracking sound of Apparation coming from behind him. He turned around to see the twins standing there, suspiciously looking at him. "Aren't you going in, dear brother of mine?" Fred asked.

Bill awkwardly cleared his throat. "I am." He said, dread settling in the pit of his stomach. The twins had never spoken to him in such a cold way before.

He slowly opened the door and all conversation ceased at once. "We brought a guest!" George yelled for the whole household to hear.

They walked to the kitchen where they seemed to have gathered, well just three of the nine Weasleys at least. Percy was seating at the table while Molly and Arthur were standing there, nearly leaning against the wall. He ignored the pain blooming in his heart as best he could as he noticed that Charlie was not here. He didn't want to see them, he wanted to see Charlie. He had come for Charlie.

"William!" Molly exclaimed, a sweet smile on her face. "I see you finally decided to grace us with your presence." Her words were filled with venom and even though he had stopped caring about what she thought about him, it still hurt to hear her talk to him as though he was the worse scum ever. He didn't know what he had done to deserve that. He was her son for Merlin's sake.

"Well..." He cleared his throat and swallowed the nervous lump that had formed in his throat. "I came to see Charlie, actually. Is he upstairs?" He asked, his eyes shining with hope.

"Don't you want to stay with us for a bit?" Percy asked, glaring daggers at him.

"Well, I'm in a kind of hurry, so..." He trailed off. He knew that his ten minutes were nearly up and that it wouldn't be long before his Alpha came to get him.

"Really? And who's waiting for you exactly?" Arthur asked.

"Just... No one." He mumbled.

"We know what you did." Fred blurted out.

Bill whirled around to face him, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "What are you talking about?" He was panicking on the inside. Did they know about his Alpha? They couldn't know.

"Charlie's not here." Percy said out of the blue, an evil smile on his face while his eyes twinkled with something Bill couldn't quite recognize.

"And where is he?" Bill asked, his voice shaking madly with anticipation and fear.

"Six feet under." George whispered in his ear.

Time seemed to stop. Bill could feel his heart speeding up and he couldn't breathe. He felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. He couldn't believe them, Charlie couldn't be dead. "That's not true." He mumbled as tears began to flood his cheeks. He couldn't think about anything other than the pain and grief he was feeling.

"He had to die, Darling," Molly told him, her voice deadly sweet. "for the Greater Good. He had sided with the enemy, he couldn't live. He deserved to die."

"No, he did not!" Bill yelled, rage taking over at once. How could she think such things. "He didn't do anything."

Guilt flashed in Molly's eyes for a brief moment but it was gone as soon as it came, so much so that Bill thought he had dreamt it. "It's okay. You don't have to think about him anymore, he's out of the way. Just like he never existed and if you confess, I'm sure we would be able to spare you." She smiled at him, like a mother smiled at her child. "You love this family, don't you? Wouldn't want us to lose the war, right?"

Bill opened his mouth to snap something back but nothing came and he closed it quickly. He sighed and he felt weak all of a sudden. He let his tears fall freely, allowing himself to grieve the loss of his brother, his only family. "I hate you. I hope you die, all of you." He whispered as he backed away to the door. "That's all you deserve. I hope Voldemort will catch you and that he will make you hurt and bleed and suffer for what you've done."

"You're with __him__ then?" Arthur asked.

Before Bill could even think of defending himself, the front door burst open, revealing one worried Fenrir Greyback, well he didn't really look like he was worried but Bill had learned how to read him. "Ten minutes are up." He told Bill, ignoring the other Weasleys who were all stunned and scared upon seeing one Fenrir Greyback brust into their home. "Go get your brother, we're leaving." Bill wanted to flinch at the way his Alpha talked to him, it was way too emotionless to his liking but he fought the urge back. He knew it was just to keep up appearances. His Alpha cared.

A broken sob escaped his lips when his Alpha mentioned Charlie. He wanted to tell him what his __family__ had told him but he couldn't and so he merely shook his head. Fenrir seemed to understand though because he growled. Or perhaps it was just because Bill was crying. "Go wait outside." Fenrir growled out.

Bill whimpered and dragged himself out of the house, still weeping his heart out. As soon as he close the door behind him, he heard a deep growl. He couldn't help but go to one of the windows to look inside. His Alpha was mad, and it warmed Bill's heart a little to know that he was doing all that for him. He saw his Alpha's lips move as though he was speaking but strangely enough, Bill couldn't hear a thing.

Next thing he knew, his Alpha was ripping Percy's head off with his bare hands and biting Fred's neck, making him bleed out in no time. Bill was surprised to notice that he was feeling nothing but joy upon seeing the ones who had caused his beloved brother to die suffering so much. Molly shrieked, and unlike his Alpha's words, he heard it. Then, Fenrir came out of the house, leaving a bloodshed behind him and barely paid any attention to the curses Arthur and Molly were throwing his way. He picked Bill up and took off, running fast in search of a hiding place. They ended up in a cornfield not far from the Burrow and Fenrir stopped. He didn't let go of Bill though, not that the red-head was complaining. He loved the comfort his Alpha's arms were providing him.

Bill turned his head to look into his Alpha's eyes and wept at the compassion he saw there. "He's dead." Bill sobbed out.

"I'm sorry, cub." Fenrir whispered to him, allowing him to bury his head into his neck.

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"Is he going to be okay?" Narcissa asked as she ran her fingers up and down Draco's arm.

"Yes, he's going to be just fine." Andromeda answered. "M. Zabini here brought him in just in time." She turned to face Blaise who was sitting on a leathered chair next to Narcissa. "What happened exactly?"

Blaise looked up, his eyes leaving Draco for the first time since he arrived. He was pale and looked like he might collapse any time. "I-I don't know." He looked down at his bloodied hands which were shaking madly. "I-I found him like that... Uh, Weasley was there and... I-I think I beat him to death."

"Right..."Andromeda mumbled. "You stay here, all of you, I'll go get M. Weasley." She left without another word.

Narcissa looked at Blaise's shaking form, frowning in concern. The boy was clearly in shock. She knelt down in front of him. "How about we take care of your hands, uh?"

"N-No, it's okay. D-Draco's-"

"Draco is fine." She cut him off. "All thanks to you. Now, we have to clean your hands and check for any injuries, alright?" He looked at her for a second before nodding slowly. She gave him a soft smile and went to retrieve some compresses to clean the blood. She knelt back down in front of the boy. She wetted one of the compresses and got to work. The blood came off easily and Narcissa was relieved to notice that none of the blood had been Blaise's.

She wipped the blood off his knuckles and the boy hissed softly. "Does it hurt?"

"No it's-" Narcissa cut him off with a sharp glare. He sighed. "Slightly."

She ran her forefinger on his knuckles and he hissed again. "I think it is broken." She pulled her wand out and cast a quick __Espikey__ on his hands. Blaise sighed in relief as the pain disappeared.

"Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy." He whispered to her, the corners of his mouth turning up in what he probably wanted to be a smile.

"Narcissa is fine, Blaise." She replied, smiling at him before kissing his cheek. "Thank you. You saved my son's life. I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything." He smiled back at her. "I couldn't live without him so I gotta admit my reasons were a bit selfish."

"What happened to his skin?" Narcissa heard Lucius hiss from his place near Cygnus's bed. She felt bad all of a sudden. She had been so caught up in Draco's wellbeing that she hadn't even went to check on her youngest son.

"I- Well, I think he had a seizure." She heard Rabastan answer. "He went to take a shower and he stayed in there a bit too long so I decided to go check on him. He was taking a shower but... he was scrubbing a bit too hard. He was already bleeding when I came in." Rabastan sighed, his eyes flashing with sadness and worry. "I tried to make him stop but he just wouldn't. So I knocked him out."

"Keep an eye on Draco for me, would you?" She told Blaise and went to her second son once she got a nod from him.

"I think he just needs to talk about it, he'll need time but he'll talk about it." Rabastan told her and Lucius as she sat down next to her son.

"Was it bad?" Narcissa asked. She didn't want to imagine the state her son must have been in.

"Yeah, like really bad." He sighed dejectedly and his shoulders sagged.

Narcissa looked down at her sweet son and ran her fingers through his silky hair. She was about to question Rabastan further when she heard Andromeda come back, carrying a seemingly unconscious Ronald Weasley in her arms. She put him down on a free bed, the farthest away from both Cygnus and Draco's bed. Narcissa had trouble believing that both her sons had ended up in the Hospital Wing at the same time. She felt like she was being an awful mother. She couldn't understand what she had done wrong to deserve such a thing.

Narcissa was surprised when Andromeda asked her to come over to her. She hadn't expected that. Sure, Andromeda wanted for them to make up but she had made it quite clear to her older sister that she had no intention to do so. Narcissa still had to talk about that to Bellatrix but she was sure that she would agree with her. She walked over to her, without uttering a single word, waiting for her traitor of a sister to talk.

"He's dead." She whispered to her so that no one would be able to eavesdrop. Andromeda glanced at Blaise and Narcissa followed. The poor boy was sitting next to Draco, running his fingers on his cheek and quietly talking to him. She knew that he wouldn't be able to bear the news. He was too sweet of a boy to live with the knowledge that he had killed another with his bare hands. "I'm gonna have to call his family and M. Zabini's." Andromeda continued.

Narcissa sighed. "I'll deal with Blaise's mother. Just don't tell Blaise he killed him, he wouldn't be able to live with that."

Andromeda looked at her as though she had grown a second head. "And what do you think I should tell him? That M. Weasley decided to leave Hogwarts without a reason? I can't just so that. As a member of the staff, it is my __duty__ to tell M. Zabini __and__ his mother that he killed the boy."

"I'll come up with something, okay? Just keep your mouth shut for once." Andromeda briefly glared at her. "Please." Narcissa forced herself to say. She couldn't risk Andromeda disagreeing with her now.

"Fine. Do what you think is right. I'll just tell Amycus to ask the Weasleys to come here." Narcissa opened her mouth to tell her to take the body but Andromeda spoke up first, preventing her from doing so. "Yes, I'll take the body."

Narcissa nodded once and went back to Blaise who was looking at her. "Is he-?"

Narcissa sighed. "Yes, he is dead."

Blaise paled even more and tears gathered in his eyes. "Oh, Merlin... I killed him, didn't I? They'll send me to Azkaban, right? I don't want to go there, I-"

"Blaise, stop." Narcissa cut him off, trying to ignore her husband and Rabastan's eyes on her. "You didn't kill him."

Blaise frowned. "I didn't?"

"You didn't. He- He was still alive when you left. He tried to crawl to the stairs and he fell. He broke his neck and died right then and there. See? It wasn't your fault." Narcissa knew that it was wrong to lie to the boy so much but it was a blessing in disguise.

"Really?"

"Yes. A little girl saw it all." Narcissa gave him a little smile, trying to reassure him and soothe his panicking heart.

Blaise looked down at Draco for a moment. "Could you leave me alone for a moment? I-I need to think."

"Of course." She kissed the top of his head and went back to her husband. The look in his and Rabastan's eyes told her that they had heard it all but she couldn't care less. She knew she had done what was right.

She looked down at Cygnus, just in time to see him blink his eyes open.

*****CM*RL*****

Albus Dumbledore entered the Burrow and knew that something was wrong. It was way too quiet. Of course he was aware of what had happened but he still had trouble believing it. Three deaths in such a short time was an awful lot. He quickly went upstairs and went to the room from which he heard a soft sobbing. He entered without even knocking and nearly swallowed his tongue and threw up at the sight and smell that greeted him. Arthur and Molly were sitting on a couch, Molly sobbing her heart out while Arthur tried to calm her down. George was sitting on the floor, weeping as well. Ginny, who had come home from Hogwarts not even half an hour ago was leaning against her mother and weeping hard too. There were three corpses lying on the three beds in the room; Percy Weasley, Fred Weasley and Ronald Weasley, all three of them pale and very much dead. The whole room smelled like death and rotting flesh.

Albus winced inwardly, their death would surely end up being a problem. It meant that he had lost three supporters, losses such as these could cause them to be outnumbered. Yet again, their death would be a good trigger which would allow Albus to finally start a war. Albus didn't know whether he should be annoyed or delighted with their passing.

"Albus, you came." Molly sobbed as she looked up at him.

"Of course I came. I'm sorry for your loss, my dear." Albus told her.

"They're monsters. They killed them. I want to make them suffer." Molly wept, burrying her head in Arthur's chest.

"You will, my dear and we will begin with taking the brat back." Albus said, his eyes twinkling evilly. "We're at war."

*****CM*RL*****

Cygnus blinked his eyes open. He was happy that the first thing he saw was Rabi. His mate smiled down at him and kissed his forehead. "Hi." He whispered.

"Hi." Cygnus smiled happily but it was quickly replaced by a confused frown. "What happened?"

Rabi sighed and Cygnus couldn't help but feel like he had asked the wrong question. "You had a seizure, Love. Don't you remember?"

Cygnus's frown deepened, trying hard to remember. Then, it all came back at once; he and Rabi had made love, then he had thought about Vernon and he had felt so dirty, he had taken a shower and scrubbed a bit too hard. He looked down at his red skin before looking back up at Rabi. "I'm sorry." He mumbled.

He knew that he had been stupid. He shouldn't have reacted that way. He loved Rabi and Rabi loved him. Vernon was not here. What he had done to him had happened a long time ago, and Rabi wouldn't have done anything with him if he was still dirty, right?

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Love. It's fine. If you need to talk I'm here, day and night, okay?" Rabi told him, a small smile on his face.

Cygnus smiled back. "Okay." It was only then that he noticed his mum sitting next to him and his dad standing at the end of the bed. "Hi."

"Did you sleep well?" His mum asked.

Cygnus nodded. "Did Rabi tell you?" He asked even though he already knew the answer. His mum simply nodded, which made Cygnus blush in embarrassment. "Are you mad?" He mumbled, lookind at his little hands.

"Of course we're not mad, Darling. It's alright. Just remember that we're here for you, we'll always be here for you." His mum told him. He looked at his dad for confirmation and was relieved to see him nod, a small smile on his thin lips.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

Cygnus wanted to ask where Draco was but the Nurse came in just as he opened his mouth. "I see that you finally woke up." She told him, smiling slightly.

Cygnus simply nodded, ingoring the looks she and his mum threw at each other. He knew that something had happened but he could always ask later. "Great." She beamed at him. "I'll just check you over, very quickly to make sure that everything is fine and then you'll be free to go, alright?"

Cygnus nodded once again and smiled back but he gripped Rabi's hand as he realized that he was nervous. He wanted everything to be fine, he wanted to leave this horrible bed. He couldn't stay here any longer, he didn't want to. The Nurse pulled her wand out and mumbled a spell which made the tip of her wand glow blue. She checked Cygnus's whole body, slightly stopping at his belly before continuing. She sighed softly once she was done. "Could I have a word with Cygnus, alone?"

"Why?" Rabi asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"It's okay. You can come back in as soon as we're done." Cygnus smiled up at him.

Rabi sighed. "Alright." He kissed Cygnus's forehead which made the teen close his eyes in delight and they left. The Nurse cast the __Muffilato__around the bed, just to make sure that their conversation would remain between them and that no one would be able to eavesdrop. Cygnus grew more and more nervous by the second but he forced himself to relax. It couldn't be that bad, right?

*****CM*RL*****


End file.
